Ghost
by JayoftheSea
Summary: [[[ABANDONED]]] Maya wished she had someone to talk to about this…. but, if any of her friends had the time to care about how she had been doing in school for the last 6 months, she wouldn't be in this position in the first place.
1. Chapter 1

Maya sat in the uncomfortable chair outside of the school offices, for once not knowing why she was there. It's the last week of her freshman year at Abigail Adams High School; she can't even remember the last time she had done something that would warrant a summons to the administrative offices for a reprimand. Maybe she had just failed all of her finals so badly that she was going to have to be held back? Yeah, probably that. Even with her studying more now that her friends couldn't be bothered with her, she didn't think she was a great student. She hadn't logged on to the school website to check her grades since a bit before Christmas. There's no way she was keeping up without Farkle and Riley helping her study. Maybe she could talk her way into summer school instead of being held back.

Before Maya can think about it too much more, the door across the hall opened, and a kid came out with some papers and the school guidance counselor, Ms. Andrews, saying "Talk it over with your parents, and let the secretary know your decision by the last day of school, next Tuesday." As the boy thanked her and walked away, Ms Andrews turned to Maya and motioned her into the office and told Maya to sit down.

As Maya left the counselor's office nearly 30 minutes later, she couldn't believe what had just happened. As the bell for the end of that period rang, she carefully put the bundle of papers in her bag before moving towards her last class for the day - History, with Mr. Matthews. Maya wished she had someone to talk to about this…. but, if any of her friends had the time to care about how she had been doing in school for the last 6 months, she wouldn't be in this position in the first place.

It had started small, as these things tend to.

Last autumn, Riley had begun dating Lucas. In the beginning, she had been meticulous about making sure she still hung out with Maya. After a few weeks, Lucas had begun walking Riley to school. Then Riley had been slower to answer Maya's texts, and started rescheduling on Maya to spend time with Lucas. By the time school let out for winter break, Riley was so wrapped up in her boyfriend, that she barely even acknowledged her best friend anymore.

As all this was happening, Zay had begun dating a nice girl from his dance class called Tiffany. Maya, not wanting to be the odd one out in the group, started hanging out with everybody less and less. With everyone else being paired off, and busy with various sports, clubs, and other extracurricular activities, no one commented on her decreasing presence.

Not even the adults had noticed. Despite not taking the position in London, Mrs. Matthews had still gotten a promotion, and was working insane hours between the law firm and the bakery. Mr. Matthews was preoccupied picking up the slack at home, valiantly trying not to freak out over his daughter having a boyfriend, and spending as much time as he could with Shawn when Shawn was in town. Maya's own mother was busy helping Mrs. Matthews run the bakery, and, when she had time, going with Shawn on his trips for the web-zine.

All of these factors combined meant that Maya had found herself with an abundance of free time that had previously been taken up with friends, and, amazingly, even less supervision than she'd had before her mom was working at the bakery. To the point of being regularly left at home alone overnight, as her mom and Shawn had no way of knowing that she and Riley were hardly talking, and they assumed she would probably be over at the Matthews' anyway.

The day before winter break saw Maya checking her grades, and finding her solid C average slipping dangerously close to Ds. As she was no longer hanging out with her friends, she no longer had ready help with homework. Their now much more varied class schedules also made it pretty pointless to borrow notes from them. The only class all of them shared was History… and Maya thought she'd like to switch out of that too. Wanting to at least maintain her average status, if only to avoid questions, she started studying. A lot. Out of character? Yeah, but…. It's not like she had much else to do.

Over the next few months, Maya struggled through learning how to find ways to understand her class- and homework without Farkle or Riley to map it out for her. She tested (and confirmed) the saying that there are online tutorials for everything. Predictably, after years of rarely being alone, and never dealing with school by herself, Maya eventually began to start burning out sitting in her empty apartment, either drawing or doing homework. So, as spring rolled around with warmer weather (if not necessarily drier), she decided that going for the occasional run may not be a completely torturous idea.

She was wrong. It was miserable, and she hated it. But she did start to feel better for getting out and moving and breathing the (relatively) fresh air, so she kept doing it.

In April, there was an event. She wasn't sure exactly, but she thought it may have been Cory and Shawn's anniversary or something. Or maybe it was Feeny's birthday? Something random, but what else is new. Maya didn't really care. The important part is that there was a dinner at some semi-fancy restaurant approximately halfway between their 2 apartments, not far from school, and she couldn't get out of it without making a scene.

When she arrived with her mother and Shawn, Maya was nearly toppled by a running tackle-hug from Auggie.

"MAAAAYYAAA!"

She found herself smiling as she returned the hug. "Hey Auggs!"

He immediately started tugging her into the dining area, saying "I want to sit by you, so I saved you a seat!" When they reached the table, he proceeded to pull out her chair for her and helping her scoot it in before taking his seat.

When he was settled in his own chair, she leaned over and pecked him on the cheek, and said "Thanks, Auggie. You are turning into quite the little gentleman. Ava's a very lucky girl." She couldn't help but return his smile as he turned his beaming, gap-toothed grin in her direction.

At this point, she turned her attention to the rest of the group, finally noticing that Auggie, in saving her a seat, had plonked her down right next to Uncle Boing. /Josh/ she mentally corrected herself. She had to start using his name if she ever wanted him to take her seriously.

Josh had been watching her interaction with Auggie with what looked like an amused smile. She fought back a blush and opened her mouth to say something that she hoped would be in the realm of 'hello' (there's really no telling what will come out of her mouth when she is distracted by him). Before any sound can actually make it out of Maya's mouth, Topanga has inserted herself between Maya and Josh, and is hugging Maya, commenting that it felt like she hasn't seen Maya in months. /That's because you haven't/ Maya thinks and thankfully can't say around a mouth full of Topanga's hair. As Mrs. Matthews finally pulls back, Maya manages to squeak out "It's good to see you too!"

As she turns back to Josh and makes a second attempt to greet him, Maya is interrupted again. This time, it's by a pouty half-shout from the other end of the table. "Peaches! Why are you all the way down there?!"

Maya bites the inside of her cheek to stop herself from saying the first thing that comes to mind, then musters up the most pleasant face she can manage before turning to Riley and responding, "Sorry, Riles, Auggie really wanted to sit next to me. Maybe we can switch around later." Before Riley can respond, Maya turns back to Josh and finally manages to greet him. "Hey. Long time no see."

"Yeah…" he says, kinda slowly. He has obviously noticed the fake smile that she had put on to address Riley. "You haven't been around my brother's house lately." His eyes are slowly flicking between Maya's face and over her shoulder toward where his niece is sitting at the opposite corner of the table. When his eyes meet hers again, she gives the tiniest shake of her head trying to indicate that she didn't want to talk about it here. He understood. Of course he did. He's observant. That's why he is the only person over 18 that has noticed anything was even going on.

Oh. Yeah. "Late happy birthday, by the way. I know I commented on social media and stuff, but still…"

"Thanks."

"Do anything special? How's it feel to be 18?" She needled him, desperate to get the conversation back on relatively safe territory.

"It feels pretty much the same as 17. And no, didn't do anything special. It's hard to make reservations on the actual day, given that it's also Valentine's. Just hung out with the family. Topanga made lasagna." She knew that from social media but didn't comment. He continued, "And an extra late happy birthday to you."

Her birthday is right after New Years. Given that she hardly saw her friends by that point, she had been pleasantly surprised to find a sparkly balloon taped to her locker, and a cupcake and birthday card waiting for her in History at the end of the day. Her class schedule had changed with the new term, so she no longer had any classes with all of her friends, and was even on a different lunch rotation. She still shared Geometry with Zay, and Bio with Zay and Lucas, but they hadn't even bothered to actually say happy birthday to her out loud, instead posting a generic message on her Facebook wall. Mr. Matthews and her mom had been the only people to say anything. Shawn was in Wyoming or somewhere equally boring, so the celebration had consisted of takeout from a nearby Thai place and opening a card from her parents with a gift card to her favorite art supply store inside.

"Thanks," Maya said, pulling herself back to the present. "How's that whole, y'know, college thing going?"

Josh laughed. "It's hard, but not horrible. Gonna start gearing up for finals here pretty soon. What about you? High school as bad as you thought it would be?"

"Yes," Maya replied, without really thinking. Seeing him raise a questioning eyebrow, she quickly moved on. " What are you doing this summer? Staying in New York, or heading home to Philly?"

Josh looked like he wanted to pursue the school topic, but, with a minute flick of his eyes over to Riley, he conceded. "Back to Philly. Going to go back to my job at dad's store for the summer for spending money. Since Christmas is here in the city now, I didn't bother going home for winter break, so, I haven't seen my old friends since, like, Thanksgiving."

Maya just managed to stop herself from saying 'Same'. "Sounds like fun."

Thankfully, before the conversation can veer into the territory of awkward, the waitress comes over to deliver drinks and take orders. Maya quickly picks up the menu she hadn't even glanced at, and located the first thing that looked appealing. When it was her turn a moment later, and Maya stated "Chicken caesar salad, please.", she gets an incredulous look from down the table. Cory proceeded to lean over past Auggie and place a hand on her forehead.

Katy asked, "Cory? What are you doing?"

"It doesn't feel like she has a fever…." Cory told no one in particular, before sitting back down and contemplating her.

The moms, the waitress, and Riley shake their heads - guys are so clueless sometimes. Shawn gave Cory a slightly pitying look, also not understanding her ordering a salad, but knowing both that he is better off not saying anything and that Cory is about to seriously put his foot in it.

Maya decided to have a little fun with it, putting on a slightly menacing face, "And why would you think I had a fever? Are you saying I look sick?"

"What - uh - n-no! It's just- um - you don't eat vegetables! Haha…" Cory was beginning to realize, but continued to shove his foot into his mouth anyway. "You eat junk food! Chimichangas, tacos, tuna melts. Y'know? Foods that make you…." At this point, Auggie had begun fearing for his father's life, and clamped both his hands over his dad's mouth.

"Foods that make me WHAT, Matthews?" Maya's eyes are now slits.

Cory pales, his brain having finally fully caught up with his mouth. He visibly scrambles for a way to save himself. From behind Maya comes Cory's salvation, in the form of his baby brother. "Foods that make you Maya. We are what we eat, after all." Josh made eye contact with the waitress and got everyone back on track by ordering his own steak salad.

"Nice save, baby Matthews," Shawn says as the waitress rushes off to continue her rounds around her section.

Conversation begins flowing around the table again. Auggie leans over to rest his head on Maya. She asks him about school.

"School's good. This week, we learned about how rain is made! Did you know that it comes from the OCEAN?!" Maya smiled. She'd missed him. Having been a staple at the Matthews apartment for so long, he'd been almost as much of a little brother to her as he was to Riley.

"And how's Ava? Everything still good with her too?" Maya asked.

At this, Auggie adopted the exasperated look of a man who has been married for 20 years. "She got suspended for 2 days a couple weeks ago for punching Emma Weathersby. She's acting like I'm going to run off with Emma or something. Me and Emma are just friends! We talk about The Avengers. Ava doesn't even LIKE the Avengers! What am I supposed to do, not have friends that like the same stuff I do?"

Maya was trying very hard to keep a straight face. As Auggie continued to lament the various issues with his wife, her ear on the other side perked as she heard Topanga ask Josh about his love life. Maya kept her attention carefully, but casually, focused on Auggie as she listened to the other conversation. She almost broke character when she had to stop herself from cheering as Josh replied "Eh, I've had a couple dates here and there, but nothing serious. I'm not too concerned with that right now. Keeping up with classes takes up a lot of my focus, I'm not sure I would even really have time to date anyone seriously."

Maya was so focussed on paying attention to both Auggie and Josh without looking like her attention was split, that she was caught completely off guard as Topanga addressed her when there was a pause in Auggie's speech to drink some of his water. "And what about you, Maya?"

Maya looked across at Topanga startled. "I'm sorry? What about me?"

With a smile, Topanga elaborated, "What about your love life? Any boys got your attention?"

Maya rolled her eyes and snorted slightly. "No. I am barely keeping up with school. I spend so much time studying these days that I started running just to have an excuse to not be staring at books for awhile."

At this, Cory decided to interject again. "What do you mean, barely keeping up? Maya, you have a B+ in my class right now. And Harper spent at least 20 minutes last week raving about how well-written and insightful your last few papers have been."

That was news to Maya.

Thankfully, the food began arriving a few moments later (after a slightly awkward pause as Maya tried to figure out how to respond), and the conversation got derailed. The rest of the meal was more casual chatter - movies that people have seen recently, what had been going on with Morgan, Eric, and Jack, the new sushi place down the street from Topanga's, the new DNCE and Lady Gaga albums. The only upset had been when Topanga had confiscated Riley's phone, because Riley was texting Lucas instead of eating or talking to those around her. After this, Riley proceeded to give the whole table the silent treatment for the rest of the meal. Maya couldn't honestly say she was upset about that.

Maya was having fun being around her family for the first time in months, but also couldn't help but feel weird as almost everyone was acting like nothing had changed. Then, she was also a mix of elated and bashful that Auggie and Josh were paying her so much attention, though for very different reasons.

With Auggie, she was happy that he had missed her and was so happy to see her, but she felt guilty for not even thinking about how he must feel with Riley being out with Lucas all the time, and Maya not being around. She resolved to get over her own discomfort and go hang out with him at least once a week.

With Josh, it was more complicated. Though they had pledged 'Someday', they hadn't really seen each other, or even properly spoken, since that day at the ski lodge. They had both been at the Matthews Christmas gathering, of course, and semi-regularly commented on each others' social media posts… but that's pretty much it. And the first time she's getting to really spend time with him, even if most of the family was here too, the first thing he had picked up on was the fact that she was having a bunch of issues. At least she isn't making a complete idiot of herself talking to him.

Amid all the chatting and eating, she was surprised when suddenly, the bill was paid and they were all getting up to leave. Auggie wedged himself under her arm and snuggled into her side a bit as the group slowly made their way out of the restaurant and the block and a half to the point that the groups would split off from each other to head to their respective homes. "Hey, Augs? You think it would be ok if I came over to hang out with you sometimes? I don't want to cause more trouble with Ava."

He looked so happy, Maya immediately felt herself returning the smile.

Auggie replied "She'll just have to deal with it. You're family. If she can't deal with us hanging out, then she can leave."

"Cool." Maya replied, ruffling his hair. "How 'bout I bring my homework, and we can study together, then play some video games or something?"

"Yeah!" Everyone was passing hugs around now. Auggie made sure to get her twice. She looked at Josh, who wasn't moving away with his family, questioningly.

Josh caught her look as he fell into step with her behind her parents. "I'm going out on a shoot with Shawn first thing in the morning, so I am crashing on your couch." It was then that she noticed he had a backpack hanging from one shoulder. It must've been under his chair at the restaurant.

Maya also noticed that he had slowed down, putting several paces between them and her parents. He lowered his voice and asked, "So, you gonna tell me what's going on with you and Riley?"

Maya shrugs noncommittally. "There's not much to tell," she says at the same volume. The look Josh shoots her says he doesn't believe her. "Really. She's just been super busy; with Lucas, and cheerleading, and student government…. We haven't seen much of each other lately."

"Cory mentioned earlier that you aren't in his class with your friends anymore; that you transferred to a different period?"

"Well, with Riley and Farkle so busy, I didn't have anyone to explain math and science and stuff to me, so I wanted to drop art and get into a study hall so there is a teacher that I can ask extra questions to instead of stumbling through trying to do it 100% by myself and failing even more miserably than I already do anyway." Maya stuffed her hands in her pockets, hunching in on herself a bit as she continued, "Except the only study hall that had room and a science teacher was during 4th period, not 6th like my art class, so a bunch of stuff on my schedule had to get juggled around. At least I was able to stay with your brother in History and Harper in English."

Josh nodded in understanding. "Well, from what Cory said, you don't seem to be doing nearly as badly as you think you are." When she didn't respond except to stare at her feet, he continued, "Why did you drop art, though? Why not a different elective? I know you love drawing and painting."

"My only other elective is Spanish. Art I can keep doing on my own just fine; Spanish, I need someone to correct my grammar and practice with," Maya explained.

"Gotcha."

By this point, Shawn is holding the door of their building open, waiting for Josh and Maya, so they are quiet as they catch her parents up and enter the building. As Katy hits the button for the elevator, Maya says, "I'll meet you guys up there." and heads for the door off to the side that opens into the stairwell. When she doesn't hear the door immediately closed behind her, she looks back to see Josh following her up the stairwell. Raising a brow, Maya asks, "What, don't think I can make it up a few flights of stairs on my own?"

He smiles at her disarmingly. "I think you can make it up there just fine. But, with all of my studying, I'm not as active as I use to be, so I could probably use the exercise."

With a nod of acknowledgement, she says "Fair enough." and they don't say anything else as she leads him up the 5 flights of stairs at a quick pace. As she opens the door to the 5th floor hallway and holds it for him, they are both puffing a bit.

"Yeah," Josh says between deep breaths, " I definitely need to start working out again."

Maya looks him up and down briefly. It's a fairly warm spring evening, so his (slightly tight) long-sleeve tee and (slightly loose) jeans reveal a perfectly fine figure. After a moment, she puts on a teasing voice and, poking his abdomen gently, says "Oh yeah, that 6-pack just screams 'Out Of Shape' to me…"

"Ha… haaaaaa…." he replies in an equally teasing tone. "But, seriously, you want to go running together occasionally? You said that you started doing it as a study break, and I am definitely going to need those so I don't completely burn out trying to cram for finals."

After a moment of thought, Maya agrees as she pushes open the door to her apartment. "Sounds like a plan. How about Sunday mornings? We can go for a run and then grab a late breakfast?" She's trying to not let her uncertainty leak into her voice. Even if she is adding on to a friendly, mutually beneficial plan that he has suggested, she is still setting up a regular time to hang out with a guy that she has liked for years, who has admitted to liking her back.

With a smile, Josh replies, "Add in Wednesday afternoons ending in froyo, and you got a deal."

Maya clears her throat to keep from choking on air. He wants to spend MORE time with her? She takes her boots off by the door and picks them up before moving toward her bedroom. "Sounds like a plan!"

"What's a plan?" Shawn asks, coming out of the hallway bathroom. Katy must be getting changed out of the dress she wore to dinner.

Josh has now stashed his bag under the coffee table in front of the couch, and as Maya is putting her own purse down in her bedroom, she hears Josh telling Shawn the plan for her and Josh to go running together twice a week to keep themselves from getting too lost in studying. She takes a moment in her relative privacy to smile and do a little wiggly dance like an idiot, before grabbing her phone from the purse and heading back out to the living room. At about 9 PM, it's still fairly early in the evening, particularly for a Saturday, so Shawn has the TV on and is scrolling through the guide to try and find something good to watch, arguing good-naturedly with Josh, who is sitting at the other end of the couch making fun of the items that Shawn is stopping on to read the synopsis. Maya moves into the open kitchen area and goes through the comforting motions of putting on a fresh pot of coffee, smiling as she listens to the men. If she ever had to explain how the Matthews' family works to someone who was out of the know, she would point to this scene as a prime example.

Shawn had been more or less adopted by Alan and Amy when he had been a stray kid running around Philly. Not many people would help that kid out to begin with, but the family had taken Shawn in so completely that, were it not for the last name, anyone watching him interact with them would simply assume he was a Matthews too. Josh treated Shawn exactly like he did Cory. Maya would bet the thought has never even entered his conscious to do anything differently. Shawn had been there since before Josh was born, had babysat and played with Josh when he was little. Shawn had always just been another big brother, and the fact that Shawn didn't share DNA simply wasn't a factor.

She had used to share a very similar relationship with the family. It's what had brought her and Shawn, then, later, Shawn and Katy, together in the first place. Hopefully she could get a little of it back spending more time with Auggie.

By now, Katy has joined the boys in the living room, settling herself into the cushy armchair off the the side of the couch at an angle. Maya eyeballed the coffee pot and decided it was close enough to done to pour a cup. Not bothering with milk or sugar, she took her mug with her into the living room, grabbed a board game from the cupboard, and interrupted Shawn and Josh's bickering by turning off the TV. As they let out dual exclamations of 'Hey!', she rolled her eyes as she put her cup and the game on the coffee table, then reached for the aux cable to the sound system and plugged it into her phone.

"It's 9 on a Saturday, there's NOTHING good on. Start setting that up." Maya gestured at the box that proclaimed Monopoly! across the lid. She put on a playlist that was a mix of the 90s pop and rock music that her mom and Shawn had grown up with, some random older punk that she was into, and a bit of newer pop, before adjusting the volume to a level that wouldn't make them have to shout to hear each other talk. As Katy unpacked the Bank, Shawn sorted and set up the Chance and Community Chest cards, and organized the property cards, houses, and hotels off to the side. Maya reached forward and snatched up the top hat figure, saying "Dibs!" and plonking it down on Go.

Maya woke up the next morning to a quiet house. When they had finally made it through the game at midnight, Shawn had said they should go to bed, since he and Josh had to be out the door at 7 to make the shoot setup time of 7:30. Josh had surprised Maya for a final time that evening by giving her a tight hug good night, topped with the tiniest ever kiss to the top of her head. Katy was opening Topanga's at 8 the next morning, which meant she'd be leaving the same time as the boys to get there early and get the shop set up for the day.

Knowing everyone would be gone by now, Maya picked up her phone to check how late she'd slept, and was kinda annoyed that it wasn't even 8 yet. Seeing a notification on Facebook Messenger, she opened the app and smiled as she saw a message from Josh. _Morning, ferret! I didn't want to wake you, so here's my number. Don't work too hard. I'll see you Wednesday!_ This was followed, as promised, by Josh's phone number.

She didn't have much to do today; her only outstanding homework being a final proof-read of a History report, and double-checking the Geometry and Spanish worksheets that she had completed yesterday. She actually had been managing to understand her schoolwork a lot better lately. She probably wouldn't actually have to work as hard as she had joked with Josh to keep up and get ready for finals in 6 weeks. With sigh, Maya decided that, before anything else was going to happen, she wanted a breakfast burrito from the diner a few blocks away. She made sure she still had enough of her small allowance left to cover it, then threw on whatever clothes were handy and some flipflops, then headed over there.

As she was sitting at the counter, drinking coffee and waiting for her food, she noticed a sign posted down at the end by the register; "NOW HIRING: Part time busser/dishwasher; evenings and weekends". Well…. She had just been thinking that she was going to have more free time, plus there was summer coming up…. She had certainly helped her mom out enough at various jobs to know her way around cleaning up tables. When the waitress dropped off Maya's food, Maya asked for an application, and to borrow a pen.

Maya sat in History that Friday in June, trying to process the conversation she had been pulled into the guidance counselor's office for. She had been instructed to talk to her parents about it, but that couldn't happen even if Maya wanted to talk to them about it. Usually, Katy only joined Shawn on relatively local trips, that they could get to and back within the 2 days of her normal weekend. However, when Shawn had been given a week-long assignment in Spain, Topanga had insisted on Katy having a real vacation and given her the whole week off, insistent that she and the assistant manager at Topanga's, Megan, could handle the shop for a few extra days.

Maya had managed to avoid being required to stay at the Matthews apartment for the entire time, but it was a narrow thing. She had promised to be extra responsible, and had pointed out that, should anything happen, Mrs. Rodriguez was right across the hall, and the Matthews were only a phone call away. She had additionally been told that she was expected to turn up for a meal at the Matthews at least every other day to check in. She had said her goodbyes and have funs last night, as they had a very early flight this morning, and didn't want to wake her.

"Maya?" Mr. Matthews' voice broke through her concentration.

Looking up, Maya realized that she and Mr. Matthews were the only people still in the room. "Sorry. I was thinking. Didn't hear the bell."

Cory looked at her with a furrowed brow. "It's fine, Maya. Is everything ok? I know you didn't hear a single word I said today. Do you want to come over for dinner tonight?"

"I am working tonight, 5 to 10. I am alright. Just figuring out what I am going to do this summer." Maya summoned up a smile, but Cory didn't look completely convinced. For an extra measure, she said, "I will definitely come over for breakfast tomorrow, though."

The man finally nodded, accepting that maybe this is just her being anxious for summer break.

As Maya packed her History text and notebook into her bag, she briefly entertained the idea of talking to him about it. Showing him the papers, discussing the implications, having him sign them since she was technically in his care with her parents out of the country. He is her emergency contact at school anyway, with him in a much better position to take care of her in case of emergency than Gammy, who is all the way in Kentucky.

Yet, Maya didn't say anything except "Have a good night, Matthews." as she made her way out of the room.

She still hadn't told anyone the next Monday, even as she stopped at the office before homeroom to drop off the signed paperwork. She had never been so grateful that she had learned to forge both her mother and Mr. Matthews' signatures back in 7th grade.

The secretary took the papers and gave them a once-over before telling her to come back after the early release today for another, longer, conversation with Ms. Andrews.

It's the 4th of July, and everyone is in Philly for a cookout at the Matthews family home. Ava's with us to occupy Auggie. With Riley off at cheerleading camp until August, Josh and Maya are the only teenagers, so they are hanging out with some snacks and cold drinks underneath the treehouse where Auggie and Ava are playing.

It had taken Shawn, Cory, AND Topanga to convince Katy to let Maya both come to Philly and not be sequestered in a bedroom during the party.

"I don't even get why she's so mad." Maya (quietly) complains to Josh. "It's not like my being in summer school affects her at all. With me going full-time at work for the summer, it isn't like we were going to be spending much quality time together anyway, and it doesn't cost anything."

Maya is grounded until further notice for going to summer school. The only things she is allowed out of the house for are school and work at the nearby diner where she is a dishwasher and waitress.

Josh shakes his head. He thinks he can understand both Katy and Maya's points of view. While all of Maya's points are valid, he also gets that Katy is worried that Maya is having trouble in school and may not graduate on time, which could have a negative impact on Maya's future.

Josh and Maya had been getting to know each other a lot better. Besides the 2 months that they had done their twice-weekly run and hang-out while he was still in New York, they also talked most days, usually by text or snapchat. They had even studied together semi-regularly, proofreading each other's essays and quizzing each other with flash cards.

So, in addition to knowing there is NO way that she had failed anything with the quality of work he knew she did, he was also pretty sure she was hiding something. Not lying, exactly, but definitely not being completely honest about what was going on that could possibly have her in summer school despite having done pretty well on classes.

As Josh watches her watch the rest of the party socialize, he knows that, whatever it is, she's not likely to tell anyone until she's ready, or gets caught out.

The evening of the Tuesday before Thanksgiving found Maya arguing with her mother.

"Excuse you, young lady! That is no way to soak to your mother!" Katy exclaimed.

"What way was I speaking?! All I said was that you are going to have to go without me!" Maya asked back at equal volume.

"We have had these plans for weeks! You can't just tell me the day before that you don't want to go!"

"If you've had these plans for weeks, then why didn't you tell me about them weeks ago?! If I had KNOWN we were going to Gammy's for Thanksgiving, then I wouldn't have offered to work this weekend, or signed up to volunteer at the women's shelter!" Maya was frustrated with her mother. Ever since June, when Katy and Shawn had gotten back from Spain to the news that Maya would be going to school for 20 hours a week for most of the summer, Katy had been treating Maya like a delinquent. Maya had been grounded until the 2nd week of August, when summer school ended so that teachers had a couple weeks to prep for the coming year.

It was at this point that Shawn, tired of running interference between Maya and Katy, had vented one evening to Cory and Topanga. After hearing Shawn out, Topanga had gone full attack shark lawyer, sitting Maya and Katy down and imposing a truce on them, whether they wanted it or not.

Maya would now have a strict curfew. She must be in the house by 10pm on weeknights. On weekends, this will be extended to 11. If she is scheduled to work later than this, there would be an exception. If she wishes to attend some event that would keep her out later, it must be cleared with Katy in advance. Her work schedule will be posted on the refrigerator weekly. Any changes to it will be clearly marked in red pen or pencil. Cory will be keeping a close eye on Maya's grades. If, at any point, a single grade falls below a C, he will inform Katy immediately. Maya will put at least 75% of every paycheck into savings. If it is suspected that she is not doing this, she must surrender her most recent bank statement for review. If there is an inquiry about where Maya is, what she is doing, and/or who she is with, Maya will respond truthfully.

In return, Katy will not restrict Maya's activities or movements without due cause. Maya's spending money (not to exceed 25% of a paycheck) is hers to spend as she pleases, as long as it is legal. Katy will trust Maya to manage her own schedule unless it becomes apparent by way of a low grade notification from Cory that she cannot manage it herself. Punishment for breaking any of these rules will be proportionate to the incident, and not exceed 2 weeks in length.

If there are any disputes that can't be settled upon, they will be handled by Topanga.

The rules set down by Topanga were reasonable. Maya knew she would have few or no problems sticking to them. Katy couldn't even argue with any of them. They both signed the agreement that Topanga laid down in front of them. The next day, each had their own copy of the signed document. Katy taped hers to the fridge. Maya tacked hers up on the wall next to her small desk.

But, back to the Thanksgiving issue.

"Maya you can't just- wait. Did you just say volunteer at the women's shelter? Since when do you do that?" Katy wasn't expecting that to be Maya's argument for refusing to go to Kentucky for Thanksgiving.

Maya stared at her mother and tried not to sigh or roll her eyes. "I've been volunteering there almost every weekend since the beginning of September. It's overcrowded this time of year, and a lot of the regular volunteers are unavailable immediately around the holidays, so I signed up for extra shifts. I also took a couple serving shifts at work so people can have a little more time with their families. You hadn't mentioned doing anything special, so I assumed we were just doing something small with the 3 of us like last year."

Katy felt the wind instantly disappear from her sails. It's true that she had probably forgotten to tell Maya. Between both of their work schedules and Maya's school and homework, they hardly spent more than a few minutes at a time face to face during waking hours, so if they didn't text each other about things as soon as they came up, or leave a note on the fridge, it was easy to forget. And even if she HAD told Maya and Maya had forgotten, Katy could hardly be mad at Maya for wanting to help out her coworkers and women and families in need during the holiday weekend. Katy had been expecting a much more frivolous plan to keep from going to Kentucky. "Ok."

Maya was startled. "Really?"

Katy nodded. "Yeah, baby girl. You can stay home. I'm sorry for jumping the gun and not hearing you out. And not making sure you knew the plan in enough time to change yours." Katy walked the rest of the way into Maya's bedroom, having been standing in the doorway for the duration of their abbreviated argument, and grabbed her daughter in a hug. "I keep forgetting that you went and grew up on me. You are turning into an amazing young woman, and I am very proud of you. But, sometimes, I am going to forget, and accidentally treat you like my little girl. I hope you can forgive me for that. "

Maya found herself unable to really classify how she was feeling at this very unexpected turn. So, she hugged her mom and said, "Of course I can, mom. As long as you can forgive me for sometimes forgetting that I am not quite grown up yet, and still need my mom."

"I still don't get why you don't just tell them."

Josh and Maya are sitting in a coffee shop near his dorm. It's the second week of December, and the frigid weather has forced them into running up and down stairwells in either his or Maya's building, instead of through the streets. They have also swapped Wednesday running and froyo for Tuesday running and coffee. Maya has been getting scheduled to work Wednesdays lately.

Maya gave him an exasperated look over the rim of her giant latte mug. "I've told you like a dozen times! They have never bothered to ask, and now it would be too awkward to just blurt out. Plus, it would just cause another argument, and mom would feel guilty….. which is why I am saving it as a trump card for a really big argument…."

It's been almost 6 months, and Josh and Cory are the only 2 people that have figured out what's happening. It happened around the same time, too. _

Maya was in Josh's dorm room a couple weeks into both of their school years. They were studying together. Maya had run down the hall to go to the bathroom, and when she came back, he was looking curiously at the textbooks she had left in a pile on the portion of his bed she had claimed.

Josh held up the World History textbook and said "You're trying to graduate early." There had been no question. He looked up to his brother a lot, and, as such, was perfectly aware that World History didn't come until you have passed the sophomore level North American History course at Abigail Adams High School.

Maya cringed, then sat down with a sigh. "I was studying ahead during summer school." She didn't know where to start with explaining.

Josh surprised her…. By not being surprised. "I saw the level of work you were putting out last year. As unhappy as you are there, it makes sense that you want to try and minimize your time there." They had held eye contact for a minute then, him smiling slightly, her trying to hold back tears for a reason she couldn't name. "Now, didn't you say you need me to quiz you on something for Spanish?"

She had been grateful for the out.

A few days later, her conversation with Cory doesn't go nearly so well.

She wasn't in his History class that term, but she was in the period of study hall that he oversaw. Per the agreement that Topanga had laid down, he was to check Maya's grades every 2 weeks, and report anything below a C to Katy. A C or above should not be mentioned, as the point was to keep Katy from micromanaging Maya's grades. The reminder he had sent on his phone went off at lunch 2 weeks into the school year. Maya was in his study hall right after lunch. As kids started wandering in to get their preferred seats, he was looking at Maya's grade history in confusion.

Cory looked up from his screen and towards where she was settling in at her new favorite desk in the back corner, next to the window. He watched as she pulled out the cheap, refurbished laptop she had gotten recently, and a spiral-bound notebook, followed by a small pencil case and a copy of The Kite Runner.

He looked back down at his laptop screen and tried to figure out what was going on. She was currently enrolled in Spanish 2, Intro to Computer Sciences, and Weight Lifting, followed by 3 periods daily of study hall, with 3 different teachers. When he scrolls back to the months of summer school, he sees that she had been enrolled in 3 different classes for the summer… including North American History? That was a sophomore class. And she had passed it with an A-! Sophomore English had been passed with a B+, and Geometry 2 with a B+ as well.

He scrolled further back. It didn't make any sense. She couldn't have been retaking classes that she had failed the previous year when she wouldn't have had those classes the previous year. As Cory sees Maya's grades for the end of last year, he's flabbergasted. Straight As, with a single outlying A- in Biology. He clicked over into her administrative file. Seeing a note from Ms. Andrews, the guidance counselor, he finally gets it. She had done so well last spring and winter terms that she had been offered the fast track.

Maya was doing so well that she would be graduating early. At least a year early, if the projected timeline ends up being accurate.

At the end of the period, Cory asks Maya to stay behind. "Why didn't you say anything, Maya?" he asks as he shows her the screen with her grades charted out.

Maya shifts uncomfortably. "I knew no-one would care."

Cory can't believe his ears. "What?! Maya of course we ca-"

"No." She cut him off. Seeing his utter confusion, she continued, "You, Topanga, mom, Shawn… everybody heard the words 'summer school' and just either accepted it as if it was inevitable, or freaked out. Not one single person asked me _why_ or _what happened._ Not one of you even **looked** at my report card, or asked me what subject it was for. All of my friends got into relationships and just _forgot about me_ and the only person that even noticed anything was wrong was Josh. There were times last school year that I went literally days at a time without saying a single word at all." Maya had tears in her eyes by this point, but she didn't break eye contact with the startled history teacher as she kept going. "And. No. One. Noticed. It took my mother more than a month to even realize that I got a job. And yet, the moment the words 'summer school' got said, I was grounded for almost 3 months, and she starts treating me like I killed someone. So **do not** tell me that you guys would have cared. If you did, you would have at least asked." As the first student for the next period walks in, Maya quickly finishes up with "I would greatly appreciate if you kept this to yourself. There's really no point in sharing the news now." before turning on her heel and quickly striding out of the room, towards to girls bathroom, uncaring that she's going to be late for her next study hall.

At the end of the last day before winter break, Maya has a check-in with Ms. Andrews. Since she is doing most of her core subjects as self-study, Maya has managed to get ahead. It helps that she has figured out how to combine assignments from different courses so that the one assignment gets her 2 grades. Her History teacher that is in charge of grading her assignments was laughing out loud when she handed him a comic book that she had drawn (in lieu of writing an essay) about Britain colonizing… like, everywhere.

After going over notes from her various teachers, Maya and Ms. Andrews talk and re-calibrate the projected timeline for Maya's future classes.

After wishing Ms. Andrews a good break, Maya stops at her locker to collect the rest of her stuff that she'll need over break. It's not her usual day to hang out with Josh, but she's not working this evening, and wants to do something fun, and she knows that he had his last class of the quarter 2 days ago. And so, she texts him on her way home, asking if he wants to grab a movie or go bowling or something. He responds in the affirmative as she is unpacking her bag onto the tiny desk in her room.

Looking down at herself, she decides quickly that this outfit is fine for whatever they're going to end up doing.

She doesn't even contemplate that this casual outing with the guy that has become her best friend might send her already-tumultuous world into a tailspin.


	2. Chapter 2

"MAYA PENELOPE HART!" Josh yells over the loud background noise of the arcade.

They hadn't been able to find a movie they both wanted to see that also still had tickets available, and neither of them had been particularly hungry yet, so the two had ended up at a bowling alley that had a rather large arcade attached. After a quick game on the lanes (Josh won, but neither had done particularly well), they had handed in their bowling shoes and gone into the arcade. They were currently sitting in plastic car seats next to each other playing a racing game, and Maya had never had problems playing dirty. She had just intentionally put his avatar in the game quite violently into the track wall on the final turn, before winning.

"JOSHUA GABRIEL MATTHEWS!" Maya returned his shout, jumping out of the seat as he reached over to tickle her in revenge. There was a few moments of Josh chasing her through the semi-crowded arcade before he managed to grab her around the waist and pull her into him, before reaching his free hand up to the back of her neck to take advantage of the one ticklish spot she had.

He was thankful for their mutual propensity for asking random questions of each other whenever they came to mind. After a few seconds of her squealing and squirming, he decided to take mercy and stopped the tickling, instead hugging her and leaning down to say, "I should have known you'd be a vicious player."

"Me?!" Maya exclaimed incredulously. "You tripped me playing DDR!"

He let her go and acknowledged the point. "OK, so maybe we're both a bit too competitive."

Maya's look plainly said 'no shit'. Fortunately for the ears off the many young kids around, her mouth said "I'm hungry. " and she proceeded to grab his hand and go over to the little cafe area between the arcade and alley.

With a slice of pizza each and an order of fries to share, they sat down at one of the raised counters behind the lanes and she took a selfie of the both of them taking their first bite, which she then posted on Instagram and, from there, across the rest of her social media, with the caption "me & joshie_mcboingboing taking a break from destroying each other at video games #lastdayofschool #winterbreak #wecompetitiveaf ".

That handle change had been the first and last time Josh forgot to lock his phone with her around. But he kept it, because only a couple people would even understand, and it made her giggle.

They were discussing whether they wanted to keep playing games or go back to his dorm to hang out and watch something on his laptop, when they were interrupted by a voice directly behind them. "Excuse me?"

They both turned around to see a girl, maybe 12 or 13, who looked very nervous. The girl continued, "You're Maya, right? Maya Hart?"

Maya, confused, replied, "Uh…. Yeah. And you are?"

The girl visibly steeled herself. "I'm Nikki. You probably don't know who I am, but I follow you on Twitter, and when I saw you were here, I just wanted to meet you. I am here for a friends birthday party." the girl took a quick, but deep, breath before continuing, "My family just moved to the city a few months ago, and, when we did, dad told us about you, just in case we ever ran into you. So I looked you up online and started following you, just to see what you're like…."

"Oh…. Ok… uh…" Maya clearly had no idea what to say.

Nikki saw that and explained more, "Sorry, I should've been better introducing myself, I was just so excited to run into you… my full name is Nichole Rebecca Hart. We have the same father. You're my sister."

40 minutes later found Maya and Josh back in his dorm room. Maya had managed to push through her shock enough to trade contact info, and get a few more bits of information from Nikki before Josh saw the beginning stages of panic setting in and excused both of them, citing needing to get Maya home because she had an early shift tomorrow.

Maya was in Josh's lap, with his arms tightly around her, one of his hands slowly running through her hair, boundaries ignored completely in the moment of needing him to ground her through the panic attack she was currently coming down from. He was quietly talking about nothing in particular, while she had her face pressed into the space between his neck and shoulder, clutching the front of his shirt.

As her shaking calmed, they separated enough for her to reach up and wipe away the couple tear tracks on her cheeks. "I don't think I can go home and look at my mom and Shawn tonight." Maya looked lost.

Josh hated seeing her like this. He knew she had been through a lot before, and was an incredibly strong person for it, but he had never imagined what it would be like to actually see her in the midst of major emotional turmoil. He shifted slightly to retrieve his phone from his back pocket, one arm still around Maya to keep her where she was. Flicking through his contacts, he stopped on one and hit call. A moment later, the call was answered. "Hey Shawn, are you with Katy?"

"Yeah…?" came Shawn's voice from the other end of the line.

"Good. Can you tell her that Maya fell asleep in the middle of watching a movie here at the dorms, and I don't want to wake her up to go home? She hasn't been sleeping well…. Is it ok if she just crashes here tonight?" just like when he had bluffed their way out of the bowling alley, the fib came out of his mouth easily. Normally, that wouldn't be the case, but he didn't have time to examine his actions right now. Not with Maya still occasionally shaking in his arms and looking like she was about to start crying again.

Josh listened to a muffled back and forth between Shawn and Katy. After a minute, Shawn came back to talk directly to Josh, "Yeah, kiddo, that's fine. Thanks for calling to make sure."

"Cool. I will make sure she's home at a decent time tomorrow morning. I know you guys had plans for family stuff." A few pleasantries later, Josh was hanging up.

Maya leaned back a bit to pick her head up and lock eyes with Josh. "Thank you," she said, obviously grateful.

With a deep breath, she moved from her position curled up on his lap to finally take off her shoes and jacket. Josh followed her example, toeing off his shoes and taking off his coat, before getting up and hanging both their coats on the back of his desk chair. As he turned back toward Maya, he saw that she had put both of their shoes neatly under his bed so they would be out of the way, and moved over to his dresser to grab a tee-shirt to sleep in. While it didn't happen frequently, there had been several instances of her staying over for various reasons, so they had a system of sorts. Shirt selected, she unzipped her purse to grab the little travel toothbrush and hairbrush she kept in there, before reaching into Josh's toiletry bag to spread a bit of toothpaste on the toothbrush, then turning to go to the bathroom down the hall. He followed her example, grabbing his own toothbrush to get ready for bed, despite the fact that it wasn't even 8.

15 minutes later, they were both back, laying in Josh's bed, Maya draped over his chest, him once again gently running his hands through her loose hair. Josh had put his entire songlist on shuffle on a low volume for some background noise, knowing it would calm her more than the near-silence of the mostly-empty dorm building. He knew she hadn't fallen asleep, because she was tracing random shapes on his chest. It was another half-hour before she said anything.

"I didn't think he would ever tell them." There was another few minutes of silence. "I knew about them, because finding out about Nikki is why he and mom split for good, but when I saw him a few years ago, he told me they didn't know about me. And he didn't tell me that there was another little sister."

When she didn't seem inclined to keep talking, he said "I'm here for whatever you need." before pulling her tighter into his side, and leaning down to softly kiss her head. Eventually, they both drifted off to sleep.

A few days later saw them at Cory's house, with most of the immediate family, having just finished Christmas dinner. Topanga had decided that, since she and Katy had done most of the cooking, Cory and Shawn were on dish duty. They were complaining, despite the fact that there actually wasn't much to do. The ladies had cleaned pots and pans as they prepared the meal, so all the guys actually had to do was rinse off the dinner dishes and serving bowls before loading them into the dishwasher.

Maya was subdued, even for how removed from the group she had become. As people gathered to chat, she was sitting over in the window seat with a new sketchpad and the high-quality set of pencils that Cory and Topanga had given her, packed inside a brand new backpack, as Auggie had pointed out to them a few weeks ago that she had been using hers since 6th grade, and one of the straps was more duct tape than fabric.

Josh was on a chair between the living room and kitchen, half-listening to his dad tell Morgan about what was going on with the store. Honestly, his attention was mostly on trying to watch Maya without it being obvious.

As such, he was startled when Cory tapped his shoulder for attention. Once he had it, Cory said, "Can I borrow you for a few?" and gestured toward the hallway that led to the office.

Josh agreed, and once they were sequestered, Cory didn't leave him hanging. "Do we need to be worried about her?"

"No…. I don't think so, anyway." Josh hedged, knowing Maya wasn't ready for more people to know what had happened.

Cory gave his baby brother a long look. "What can you tell me?" He knew Josh was aware of whatever was going on with Maya. Josh had stepped in to be her best friend when she hadn't had anyone else to fill the role. Since his revelation about her fast-tracking high school and what had precipitated it, he had been paying a lot closer attention, and knew that she hadn't made any other friends at school. The only people she hung out with were Auggie and Josh.

Josh sighed. "On her last day before break, we were hanging out, and… there was an…. incident." Cory's eyebrows raised in alarm. "She's alright! Physically, at least. Emotionally… she's getting there." Josh ran his hands through his hair. "She isn't ready for people to know yet, so I really can't say much else."

Cory visibly gathered himself and forced a calm "What I am about to ask you is not a judgement or anything bad, but I have to ask." Josh nodded. "Did you guys….. uh…." there were some vague hand motions as he found himself unable to voice his question.

It took Josh several seconds to realize what Cory was getting at. "Oh my god, no! It's nothing like that! I mean, I can't deny that she has stayed in my dorm room a few times, but all that happened was studying and sleeping, and occasionally movies, I swear!"

Cory let out a relieved breath. "OK. I'm sorry, but it had to be asked. Do you know when she is planning on telling Katy and Shawn about school?"

"She told me that she hasn't told them because they never asked what was going on, then she felt awkward bringing it up with how tense things have been between her and Katy. So, probably not until she signs up for summer classes again next June, and they get in a fight about it."

Cory shakes his head. "Thanks for telling me what you can. Let's go spend Christmas with our family, huh?" with a smile, Cory leads them back out to the living room.

Josh, seeing everywhere in the main area is occupied, turns and goes to sit next to Maya by the window. As he sits down, she leans against him and lays her head on his shoulder while continuing her sketch of the family. "Were you able to calm him down?" she asks quietly.

"Yeah, mostly" he replies, watching her skilled hands trace out the lines of his mother's smiling face. "Didn't give any details, but told him enough that he won't make things more weird by confronting you." Cory and Maya's previously close relationship had been strained since the incident of him confronting her about school.

She picked her head up to make eye contact. "Thank you." He knows she is talking about more than just defusing the situation with his brother. "Someday?" she continues, referencing their promise to each other for the first time in many months.

He smiles down at her, "I'm in it for the long game."

Maya's birthday falls on a Friday that year, and a family dinner is organized at an Italian place that she likes. Josh has a plan for the following day, as she isn't working, but still goes to the dinner.

Like the previous April, Maya is seated between Josh and Auggie. Unlike the previous April, she is the veritable center of attention. Riley is at some sporting event or another with the rest of the cheer squad, so Maya didn't even have to pretend everything is ok on that front.

Everyone focussing on her after over a year of hardly noticing her feels weird, but also nice. They hadn't forgotten her, life had just gotten in the way.

The next morning, Maya is standing in front of her closet, trying to decide what to wear. She is meeting her father's new family for breakfast, then meeting Josh for whatever he had planned for the rest of the day. She shot him a text asking if she needed to plan for crashing at his place.

Deciding not to overthink her clothes, she pulled on a pair of sparkly black tights and threw on a soft, royal blue sweater dress. Seeing a reply from Josh, she opened it and smiled at his 'That would probably be a good idea ;)'. She texted her mom next, saying that Josh wasn't sure how late they would be out and she may end up crashing with him, if that was ok. Maya was still getting use to having to ask permission for things like that. She had never had to ask if she could stay with Riley, and her mom hadn't even noticed when staying with Riley had morphed into staying with Josh for the few months before the summer school drama.

While she waited for an answer from her mother, she put on some basic makeup, wanting to make a good impression on her father's wife. She didn't really care what the woman thought of her for her own sake, given that she was a large part of the reason Kermit had left, but she did want to be able to spend time with her little sisters, Nikki and Cassie, so she would smile and go through the motions for their sake.

After all, it wasn't their fault that their father was an asshole any more than it was Maya's fault.

Maya's phone buzzed with a reply from Katy saying to have fun with Josh and she would see her in the morning. Maya suspected that her parents were in on whatever he had planned, but no evidence to support that.

Slipping a couple bangles on her wrist, and some simple fake-pearl studs into her ears, Maya grabbed her new backpack from the Matthews' and stuffed a comfy outfit for tomorrow in it, along with some shorts and a tank top to sleep in, and a pair of flats in case she was super over the heels that she was about to slip on and wanted to change at some point.

Double-checking she had everything, Maya put on the patent black pumps that were actually on the short side for what she usually wore, threw on her peacoat, and made her way towards the diner near NYU where she was meeting her sisters and their parents.

Breakfast was as awkward as she had expected. Nikki had hugged her when she got there, but Cassie was more shy, being younger and not having met Maya before. Kermit had been reserved, knowing Maya wasn't there for him and probably wished she didn't have to interact with him to get to know her sisters. His wife, Rachel, was obviously tense, and she came off as kind of stuck up, but Maya couldn't tell if that was normal or due to the situation of meeting the child that her husband had abandoned to be with her to raise their own children.

Maya, for her part, was being as polite as she could manage while still making it clear that she was here to get to know Cassie and Nikki and wasn't particularly interested in interacting with Rachel and Kermit more than required.

The end of breakfast found Maya with armfuls of 2 (pretty adorable) little sisters hugging her goodbye, and tentative plans to do this again in a few weeks.

She stopped at their favorite coffee shop just across from Josh's dorm on her way, since she was earlier than anticipated and thought a peace offering may be in order.

When Josh opened the door to his room, it took him a moment to process what he was seeing. Flushed from the cold, she had barely any makeup on, and her loose hair looked a bit windblown. He knew, of course, that she was beautiful, but there was something about her standing there holding coffee for both of them, looking so natural, that gave him that weird pressure below his sternum that he couldn't place.

"You gonna let me in, or do I have to stand here til the coffee is cold?" Maya asks teasingly.

"Right, sorry," Josh says, moving aside and gesturing her in.

He's shirtless, with lounge pants on, and Maya does her best not to ogle. She has seen him shirtless many times before, given that he doesn't sleep with one on, but Maya still has a hard time not staring. Despite his joke last spring about being an out of shape college student, she knows better. Given that his bed is a single, she is VERY aware of the fact that he takes good care of his body, and it shows in defined, but not bulky, muscles that she has a hard time not rubbing herself against when they are cuddled up in his small bed together.

She doesn't even let her mind wander toward what else she has inadvertently found out about his body by sharing his bed. That wasn't their relationship…. yet.

"How'd it go?" Josh has taken the coffee that she held out in his general direction, and sat back down in front of his desk, where he had apparently been working on something.

Maya set down her stuff and got comfy on his bed while answering "About how I expected. Nikki and Cass are super cute. Kermit didn't say much. Rachel seemed a little full of herself, but I couldn't tell if that was her personality, or the situation. "

"And you still haven't told your mom?" he asked, saving his document and bookmarking the research sites he has open to go back to later.

Maya snorted. "She'd freak. Insist on confronting Kermit again. Besides, it's not like she knows most of what's going on in my life anyway, this is just another thing to add to the list."

Josh knows this isn't the time to play devil's advocate. Instead, he moves from his desk chair to next to her on that bed. "Well, we have enough time to sit and enjoy this coffee before I need to get ready. Tell me about your sisters."

She did. Regaling him with stories that they shared, and comparing them to her when she was their ages. As he got up to throw away the empty coffee cup and starts pulling out clothes, she pointedly takes out her phone and starts scrolling through Twitter, commenting on the various things in her feed as she tries not to fixate on him getting dressed a few feet away from her. He has boxers on under his lounge pants, and she has seen his legs plenty of times out running, so he hadn't bothered going to the bathroom to change. Even focusing on her phone, she can see him out of the corner of her eye, and has to consciously not stare at this butt as he buttons up the navy dress shirt and bends over to pull on the black slacks he pulled from a dry-cleaner hanger.

The day turns out to be a study in how well Josh has gotten to know Maya. Their first stop is MoMA, where they spend hours wandering around, discussing the various pieces that caught their eyes. For dinner, he has made reservations at Kraft. She couldn't even remember when she had told him that it was her favorite restaurant, even though she had only been there once, years ago, on an outing with the Minkii. As they left the steakhouse, she would've been perfectly content to head back to his dorm and binge a tv show, and was baffled when he lead her purposefully in a different direction. As they hit Broadway, she stopped him. "Please tell me you didn't do something ridiculous like wipe out your savings just for my birthday…."

He smiled down at her. "Of course not! You must have noticed you didn't get any birthday presents this year….?"

Maya shakes her head. "I don't usually get much. After last year, I was surprised we even did dinner."

That makes Josh indescribably sad. "Well, I spoke to your parents, as well as my brother and Topanga, who mentioned it to my parents... They all pitched in."

He can't read the expression on her face as she stares at him. She takes a small step forward, so she is right up against him, and says "Y'know, Boing, you make it REALLY hard sometimes." Josh's brow scrunches in confusion. "Not falling in love with you, I mean. It's hard when you do stuff like this." He is dumbfounded at her words, even as she steps back and links her arm through his. "Now, what are we seeing?" Now that she knows the cost was largely covered by others, she is excited. She hasn't seen a play since middle school.

Josh forcefully pulled himself back to the present, filing that exchange away with all the other feelings about Maya that he really needs to sit with and process sometime soon. His answer is a smile, and leading her down to the correct theater. As he stops then in front of the marquee, she squeals and does a little hoppy dance, then pulls her phone from her coat pocket and positions them for a selfie in front of the marquee. A minute later, there is a photo array posted across her social media captioned "BEST BIRTHDAY EVER THANK YOU joshie_mcboingboing #moma #kraftsteak #moanathemusical #myfriendsarebetterthanyourfriends" because of course she had also made them take selfies at MoMA and Kraft as well.

As they enter the line to get into the theater, she thinks to herself that she is glad she had been making plans for months to go all out on his birthday, though the only thing close to parental financial assistance she had was telling her mom about the large purchase she had made for tickets so she wouldn't get in trouble if, for some reason, Katy saw her bank statement.

Hours later, the pair is back in his dorm room, settling down into his bed. They lay on their sides, face to face. "Thank you, Josh. This is the most amazing birthday ever." Maya says, leaning forward to place a soft, sweet kiss on his cheek, just shy of hitting the corner of his mouth. Josh has that odd feeling below his sternum again.

6 weeks later, it's Maya's turn to surprise Josh with a big outing for his birthday. Well, the weekend after, but still… it's not like she has any control over a bands touring schedule. As he opens his door at her knock, she sees him back in slacks and a button-down, with his dress shoes on standby. She greets him with a terse "No." with accompanying gesture up and down his body. She barges into his room, quickly tossing her overnight bag into it's now-customary spot by his desk, before heading straight for the dresser, pulling out what she knows to be his favorite pair of jeans, and a soft tee that isn't too tight on him. She puts the clothes down on his bed with an instruction to change, before grabbing his dress shoes and putting them away in his closet, and digging out a pair of beat-up converse high-tops and chucking them onto the floor near the foot of his bed. She leaves his wool peacoat, since it is still winter, but also pulls a zip-up hoodie out of his closet for him to wear under it. Task complete she turns back to him just in time to see him stepping out of the slacks, shirt already off and back on it's hanger ready to go back in the closet.

Maya licks her lips, allowing herself a single moment to appreciate exactly how hot he is before busying herself again by putting away the shirt and grabbing the trousers and carefully hanging them back up as well so they don't get wrinkled. By the time she is done with that, Josh is fully clothed again and pulling his Chucks on. Maya is dressed similarly, in thick, wool leggings, with a long tee shirt that goes a few inches down her thighs, and her own pair of beat-up high-tops.

The moment he is ready, she throws the hoodie and coat at him, saying "Put those on in the elevator, we need to go or we'll be late for our reservation." Josh follows instructions, and her, trying to figure out what kind of reservation she could have made that would require jeans and Converse instead of the slacks.

Nearly an hour later, Maya was pulling him by the hand as she walked quickly through an industrial area of the city that he'd never been to before. All the way there, Maya had refused to tell him what they would be doing, talking about anything but the big plans she had made for the day. The first plan became clear as they approached a particular warehouse, which was significantly more colorful than the rest. They finally stopped just inside the door, waiting their turn to check in at the small desk.

Josh was grinning as her turned her to face him. "I can't believe you are taking me paintballing!" he says excitedly. She grins back up at him, glad she was making him as happy as she had been on her own birthday outing. Thankfully, the employees were used to requests for pictures from customers, and they kindly and quickly snapped pics of Maya and Josh on Josh's phone just after they were kitted out with all the appropriate protective gear. After a safety demonstration, and a run through of facility rules and regulations, the group they were in was let loose into the warehouse in a free-for-all.

2 hours later, a few more pics were snapped of them, a little sweaty and disheveled, and covered in splotches of paint, but still grinning.

Their next stop had them eating a dinner at a casual, but still better quality than they usually went to, sushi place. It was his favorite cuisine, and they had fun with chopstick-swordfights over the stealing of slices of rolls off each other's plates.

After Maya had paid for dinner, she led him off in yet another direction. They had linked hands for the walk without thought, and, as usual, the conversation between them was easy. Josh wondered what the big finale was going to be. As with her birthday, the big reveal was made by way of stopping in front of a marquee, this time in front of a large club. He looked like a 5 year old that had just been surprised with Disneyland as he swiveled his head head back and forth between her grinning face and the lighted sign proclaiming that the Red Hot Chili Peppers were playing there tonight. With a proclamation of "NO WAY!" he grabbed Maya around the waist and picked her up in a spinning hug. She laughed and pulled out her phone for the required marquee-front selfie, then pulled him towards the front of the line while pulling tickets out of a coat pocket. As she presented the tickets to the security guard at the door, they were waved inside and given directions to go to a specific door, where they would be taken back for the meet and greet.

He realized that Maya had not only gotten them tickets to the sold-out show of his favorite band, she had gone all-out and gotten backstage passes! Halfway through the open floor of the big club, he pulled her to a stop and hugged her again.

Hours later, Maya is in the women's bathroom down the hall taking a quick shower to get the paintball and concert sweat off before bed. He has beaten her back to the room, and is sitting in bed putting filters on photos for the Instagram array. Before and after paintball, a couple snaps of them playing around and making faces at dinner, and a handful of photos from the concert - in front of the marquee, meeting the band, a front-row selfie with the band rocking onstage behind them, and a final one of them with their signed swag on the subway on the way back to his room. " openhartsurgery sure knows how to treat a guy for his birthday! I think this was the best day of my life so far! #paintball #sushi #redhotchilipeppers #rhcp #backstagepasses"

Josh uploaded the post just as Maya came back in. He put his phone on the charging pad and layed down while she put her stuff away. As she climbed over him to get in her normal spot between him and the wall, Josh couldn't resist pulling her down on top of him for a hug. She giggled and did what she could to hug him back in the slightly awkward position. "Thank you so much for today, Maya. I couldn't have imagined a better birthday if I tried."

She smiled as she pushed herself back up. "Great, no pressure for next year or anything…" Maya teased as she got settled on her side, before snuggling into him, and laying her head on his chest and yawning. He caught the yawn and held her closer. He could feel her drifting off to sleep quickly, exhausted from the heavily active day, but he was still coming down from the post-concert adrenaline rush.

As her breathing evened out, he found himself contemplating the feelings he'd been ignoring for a while now. The full feeling in his chest that appeared when he could make her let loose the big, genuine belly-laugh that most people never heard. His worry that she wasn't really dealing with her anger towards her father, how proud Josh was that she wasn't letting that anger stop her from spending time with her little sisters. He was chagrined to note that he also needed to include the ever-increasing frequency that he had to stop himself from kissing her, and the various other reactions he had when he saw her in her very short sleep shorts and very thin tank top, or when they are spooning in bed, and she's in one of his shirts. More than once, he had been very glad for the fluke of room assignment that had landed him in a single room that year, as he didn't like the idea of other guys seeing her like this. At that thought, he ran his hand up and down her back gently. She snuggled closer in her sleep, and it suddenly hit him that his feelings for her had far surpassed 'like' a long time ago.

They were basically in a relationship, and he just hadn't realized. They studied, exercised, and relaxed with each other. They knew each others class schedules, he knew her work schedule, and what days and times she was spending with Auggie or her sisters. She was becoming part of his friend group at college. They held hands, and hugged, and cuddled almost constantly, without even thinking about it. Hell, last week, someone had asked him about his girlfriend and he had immediately told them about Maya, and not even bothered to correct them that he and Maya weren't dating.

As that realization sank in, he also knew that he couldn't do anything about it. Not for awhile, at least. Maya was only a few weeks away from taking her SATs, then just 2 weeks after that, she was starting a rolling series of finals for the Junior-level classes she was currently studying. As she got through those, she would immediately begin picking up the next Senior-level classload, and by the end of it, it would be nearly June, and he would be finishing up his own finals and then going back to Philly for the summer, while she worked full-time and went to summer school again. If he initiated anything now, neither of them would have the time or energy that they deserved to put into it.

As Josh finally began drifting off to sleep, he promised himself 'September. Someday is going to be here in September.'

One Friday evening in early May, Maya was hanging out with Auggie for the evening. Cory and Topanga were out for date night, and Maya had offered to put Auggs to bed at a reasonable time, then hang out until they came home. She had put a reluctant Auggie to bed at 10 ("I have already let you stay up any hour late") then spread out at the dining table with her Trig textbook, laptop, and pages of notes and worksheets to continue cramming for her upcoming final. With Computer Science now covering her science requirements, math was the subject that Maya had the most trouble with.

She had only been studying for about half an hour when there were brief sounds of an argument in the hall and the front door slammed open, then shut again, and the arguing got louder.

"What is going on with you, Riley!?" Cory said, exasperated. "Ever since you started high school, you have been turning into a kid I barely recognize!"

"What are you talking about, I'm still the same person I have always been! I am just going out and meeting the world, like you told me to!" was Riley's response.

Topanga joined in at this point. "Really?! Because the Riley we used to know wouldn't be calling us from the police station because she got arrested at a party where there was underage drinking and drugs!"

Riley opened her mouth, but Cory cut her off. "You know, I honestly never thought I'd be saying this, but why can't you be more like Maya?!" he gestures at Maya, who had obviously been interrupted in the middle of an exciting Friday night of studying.

Maya immediately put up a hand in the universal signal for 'stop'. "OH NO! I do not have time for this mess. You leave me out of it." She then began quickly packing away her things into her bag to go home.

A minute later she was out the door, and most of the energy seemed to escape with her. Looking suddenly exhausted, Cory looked at Riley and said, "Go to your room and go to bed, we will discuss this tomorrow." Riley clomped her way up the stairs and slammed the door to her bedroom. Cory and Topanga both wilted down onto the couch, leaning on each other. "Ever since she stopped being friends with Maya, it's like she's trying to be what she thinks Maya would be."

"What even happened with that? And when? It's like everything was normal, then I looked around one day, and Maya was only ever here to hang out with Auggie, and it's Josh that can barely tell a story that doesn't include her, and Riley can't be bothered with anything that isn't Lucas or cheer."

Cory ran his hands over his face, and replied, "It's probably about time I told you anyway, since the next big fight between Maya and Katy is only a few weeks away…" he then proceeded to lay out the story for her. From the previously tight-knit group of friends drifting apart, to Josh basically being Maya's only friend, to proudly saying "If she keeps up like she has been on her self-study, she'll have her diploma by Christmas."

Topanga was amazed. "And no-one knows about this?"

"Katy and Shawn have obviously figured out that Josh replaced Riley as Maya's best friend, but, the rest? Just you, me, and Josh."

It was Topanga's turn to rub at her face in exhaustion. "Well, as nice as it is to be caught up on that, what are we going to do about Riley?"

At the top of the stairwell, Riley looked down at her bare right hand. The cheerleaders weren't allowed to wear jewelry while they were performing, in case they scratched someone, and one day she had just…. not put the friendship ring back on. She hadn't given much thought to what had been happening with Maya, since she was so distracted by Lucas and cheer. She had a sudden sour feeling in the pit of her stomach. She had been a horrible friend. Immediately after that feeling came one of realization about what exactly had happened tonight. Riley had been at a party. A party with alcohol and other drugs. She had been arrested, even if it was briefly since the officers quickly did the necessary tests and determined that she hadn't actually had any illegal substances, and she'd just been there.

She quietly stood up from her eavesdropping crouch and made her way back to her room. She knew she had messed up. It was time to think of the appropriate punishment to discuss with her parents tomorrow morning.

One month later, Cory and Topanga have called for a family dinner. Sitting at the table, the discussion turns to plans for the upcoming summer. Josh only has 3 days of classes left next week before he packed up back to Philly for 3 months, and Riley and Maya have one week left in the regular school year. Riley, fresh out of her month-long grounding, gives her plans of cheer camp and maybe spending some time in Philly as well with her grandparents. The question then gets posed to Maya.

"Oh, pretty much the same as last year. Summer school, work…"

Katy puts down her fork, hard. "What do you mean su-" Cory cuts her off.

"Katy-"

"Don't 'Katy' me, you were supposed to tell me if her grades slipped!"

"They didn't slip!"

Katy looks confused. Shawn asks Maya, "But if you're not making up for bad grades, then why are you going to summer school?"

Maya shoots Cory a look, knowing he had engineered this. "To get a head start on my senior work."

"Don't you mean your junior work?"

"No, I mean my senior work. I finished my last junior level final a few weeks ago. Technically, I have already started my senior work, and summer school will just be continuing it so I don't forget half of it before next regular school year." Maya calmly explains before taking another bite of broccoli.

The table is quiet as her parents absorb this news. Josh's hand is on her thigh, and he gives a squeeze of moral support. Shawn breaks first. "So, last year, does that mean….?" he trails off.

"That I was grounded for three months for doing well in school? That I have been treated like a criminal for nearly a year because I am working on graduating early? Yeah." Maya says this all in a monotone, very matter of fact, not accusing, but also staring down at the remaining food on her plate instead of making eye contact with anyone. She feels another soft squeeze from Josh, and manages to lift a bite of mashed potatoes into her mouth.

There's a few minutes of awkward silence as everyone goes back to eating. Maya is the one to break it, asking Auggie if he's looking forward to soccer camp with Ava. That gets conversation flowing again, but the atmosphere is still tense.

At the end of the meal, there is no question about hanging out. Katy, Shawn, and Maya all thank the Matthews' for dinner and beginning the rounds of goodbye hugs. The one Maya gets from Josh is a little extra long and tight, with a whispered "Call me later" accompanying the now-commonplace kiss to her hair.

When they have entered their own apartment, Shawn immediately moves to make coffee, knowing they would probably need it to get through the conversion, while Katy and Maya retreat to their bedrooms for a moment to put their things away and collect themselves.

When everyone was settled in the living room with a mug of coffee doctored to their tastes, Katy finally asks "Why didn't you just tell us that in the first place last year?"

Maya gave her mother a level look and carefully matched her tone to Katy's. "Why didn't you ever ask why I was in summer school?" Katy looked like she was having trouble processing the question. Maya sighed and went on. "As soon as the words summer school got said, you flipped and grounded me and sent me to my room. I didn't exactly have a chance to explain myself. I can't tell you what's going on if you don't let me talk, mom."

Shawn asked "But why not since then? It's been almost a year, why didn't you tell us since then?"

"Well, by the time everyone had calmed down enough that I could have, it felt like me going 'hey, remember that time you grounded me for the whole summer? I was actually studying ahead for early graduation ' would've been me trying to start more trouble by rubbing your faces in it."

The adults couldn't fault the logic. Katy lets out a resigned sigh as she accepts her daughter's reasoning. "And this was the first time it would've come up in conversation naturally to set the record straight."

"So, you technically have just finished your Junior year?" Shawn inquired.

"Yeah. I got a 2300 on my SATs!" Maya told her parents proudly. Even knowing she wouldn't have done nearly as well without Josh helping her prep, she was happy with her score. She was hoping it would up her chances of getting enough grants and scholarships to not need to take out loans to get through college.

"That's fantastic, baby girl!" Katy hugged her. "As long as we're here, is there anything else you need to tell us?" There was a mischievous look on her face like she was expecting Maya to tell them that she and Josh were an item.

While that was in fact exactly what Katy was expecting, the next thing that came out of Maya's mouth couldn't be further from that. "Yeah, actually…." Maya looked suddenly wary, "Kermit and his family moved to New York last summer, and I have been seeing them every couple weeks so I can get to know my little sisters." /Might as well get it all out there at once. Like ripping off a bandage./ Maya thought as she watched her mother's face drop into a mask of shock.

Shawn recovered first again. "Sooo….. you've been spending time with your dad?'"

Maya shook her head. "Don't be ridiculous. YOU'RE my dad. Kermit is a necessary evil." a quick sip of her coffee before she explained. "I barely interact with him or Rachel. Mostly, one or both of them will bring the girls to meet me somewhere, then hang out nearby while I spend time with Nikki and Cassie. Usually, we get lunch then go to the park to play. Nikki just turned 12 last December, and Cassie will be 9 in July."

Katy still didn't know how to respond. Shawn, on the other hand, set down his nearly empty mug, came over to Maya, and moved her mug from her hands to the table before pulling her up to stand in front of him. She got a little choked up seeing that he had tears in his eyes. "I'm…. I'm your dad?"

"Of course you are. You have been ever since we met." Maya told him before putting her arms around his shoulders in a tight hug. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged back just as tight. She didn't comment on the tear she felt fall on her head. As they broke apart, Maya looked over at Katy, then turned back to Shawn and said "It's been a big night. Why don't you take her to bed, I'll clean this up, then lock up for the night."

He agreed, and Maya set about dumping out the remaining coffee in the mugs, before washing them and setting them back next to the coffee maker. As she double-checked the door was locked and cut the lights, she was glad that this summer would at least be easier than last. In her room, she texted Josh a summary of what had happened, then said she was tired and would talk to him tomorrow.

His reply was a picture of a baby ferret curled up with a tiny teddy bear, and the words "Sweet dreams".


	3. Chapter 3

It's 4th of July at the Matthews family home in Philly again.

This year, Josh doesn't have Maya to occupy him, and he considers it a good/bad thing. He misses her, but it also gives him a chance to discuss something with Shawn without leaving any kind of electronic trail. During the warmer spring and summer months, the women's shelter doesn't need as many volunteers, so Maya is now regularly volunteering at an animal shelter. They need extra staff on the 4th of July, because the animals tend to panic with all the fireworks. As such, they need people to basically cuddle the animals to help keep everything as calm as possible.

Josh manages to catch Shawn alone as Shawn is coming out of the bathroom, and Josh has been sent in to retrieve another case of pop to go in the coolers outside.

"Hey, man, do you still have that little cabin upstate?" Josh asks Shawn.

"Yeah?" Shawn says, obviously anticipating the ask to use it.

"Cool…. Cuz I was hoping to take Maya on a trip in August, after she gets out of summer classes and before the regular year starts up again…. But I am on a college student budget. She has been working crazy hard for a lot of months in a row, and I want to make sure she can relax and decompress before the pressure really goes into high gear while she finishes up her senior work and project to try and have her diploma by Christmas. You mind if I take her up there to chill and hike for like a week?" Josh is very aware that Shawn thinks he and Maya are in a relationship already, but he doesn't want to deny it, because it may be true soon. But he also doesn't want Shawn to assume that he is taking Maya up there for some extended booty call or something. Josh just doesn't know how to broach the subject, even knowing that Shawn will be the coolest out of anyone else in the family about it.

Except, Josh doesn't have to bring it up at all. Shawn takes care of that. "Chill and hike? Is that supposed to be code?"

"Shawn, Maya and I aren't together." Shawn's expression is incredulous. "No, really. I was an idiot and denying how I feel until the day she took me out for my birthday, and, by then, she had so many major tests coming up, and after she was done, I had finals, then we would be apart for the summer, so….. Seriously, we aren't there yet. I'm not gonna deny that it'll probably be a different story soon, but I really do just want to hang out with her for a few days, and make sure she relaxes without work, or volunteering, or having her nose in a book for a bit. She needs to decompress."

Shawn's expression was unreadable as he processed that information. Then he looked kinda proud. "Thank you for being honest with me. If I have to deal with the reality of my daughter growing up in that way just a couple years since I've had her, I am glad it's at least someone I can trust to be a good guy, who treats her right." Josh is happy that his big brother trusts him that much. And tries to focus on the fact that, while Shawn is his brother, they aren't ACTUALLY related, and neither is Shawm actually related to Maya, because he CANNOT be in love with Maya in the sense of her being his brother's daughter. Thankfully, he's pulled from that train of thought as Shawn continues. "You know what days you are wanting to go? Are you going to tell her so she can get the time off work?"

"No, if I tell her, she'll refuse to go. I was also hoping you and Katy could help with organizing her having that week off work with her boss. I was thinking the week before Labor Day? Sunday through Sunday, so she has Monday to prep whatever she needs to before school starts on Tuesday. I'll also need Katy to pack a bag for Maya without Maya knowing, so I can basically just show up and kidnap her and she doesn't have time to protest."

Shawn chuckles, acknowledging Josh's points. "Sounds good, kid. I will let Katy know and get it worked out." Shawn pounded Josh's shoulder as he made his way past and back out to the party, Josh following a few minutes later with the pop and another case of bottled water for good measure.

As Maya clocked out at 10pm that Saturday, she was surprised that the next weeks' schedule still wasn't posted. Usually it was up by Friday at the latest. On her way out, she asked the night manager, Drew, and about it. His reply was "Oh, yeah, Jimmy thought he had it finalized, then, right before he went to post it, someone requested specific days off, so he is re-doing it again. I saw it earlier, you aren't working for the next couple days. I'll text you when it's up so you can drop in and grab a copy."

She thought it was odd, but thanked him and headed home. When she got there, she opened a dresser drawer for sleep shorts and wrinkled her nose as she saw only long leggings. It was too damn hot for that. Looking over to her laundry basket, she saw that also empty. Of course this would be the one day that her mom thinks to do her laundry for her. With a shake of the head, Maya grabs the tee-shirt she filched from Josh before he went back home in June, before stripping down to her underwear and putting that on, too exhausted to go searching for her clothes. She had had an early shift at the animal shelter, helping get everyone breakfast, then had ended up working a double because Jamie called in sick for her dinner shift. Collapsing into bed, she sent a snap of herself in his shirt to Josh with a 'Goodnight, handsome! Can't wait to be able to use you as a pillow again ;)', then turned off the light, and passed out before she could see his response.

Maya was having a great dream. In it, she was still in her bed at home, but Josh was suddenly there, propped up on an arm on his side, leaning over her a bit, gently running his hand back and forth over her tummy. He was murmuring something, but she couldn't quite make out what. As she snuggled closer to him, she swore she could physically feel the soft vibration of his chuckle, then the words were clearer. "Come on, gorgeous, I know it's early for your day off, but I need you to wake up." She groaned in protest and turned herself over to throw an arm over his waist and bury her face into his chest.

Huh? Was that clothes? Josh never sleeps with a shirt on. He says that he feels like he's being strangled if he does. Plus, why the hell would her mind imagine him in her bed WITH CLOTHES ON? She pulled her head back a bit and blinked her eyes before settling them in barely-open slits. Josh was, indeed, in her bed wearing clothes. But her eyes were open. She thinks. She again feels the vibration of a chuckle, before hearing "Hey, beautiful. 'Bout time you opened those gorgeous eyes. I've been trying to wake you up for nearly 15 minutes."

A few hard blinks later, her eyes were open a bit further, and she looked around. Muted light was coming in through the blanket she had tacked over her window. Her work clothes were still in a pile in front of her dresser where she had dropped them the night before instead of putting them in the laundry basket.

Josh was in her bed. She wrapped both arms around his middle and rolled back, leaving him hovering over her, propped on his arms. She licked her lips and managed to croak out, "You're really here!"

A bigger laugh this time. "Of course I am, silly little ferret!" Then, under her protestation, he pulled himself back, swinging his legs off the bed. A slight weight dropped onto her lower legs. "If you can manage to put those on and drag yourself out to the living room, I have a Venti Caramel Macchiato with your name on it." As he walked out, pulling her door closed behind himself, she looked down and saw a clean pair of underwear and her most comfortable knee-length yoga pants.

Mind on a caramel macchiato, Maya did indeed manage to roll out of bed, swap yesterday's undies out for the clean ones, and pull on the yoga pants. She also grabbed her bra that was still on the floor from last night and put that on under his shirt. He hadn't handed her a replacement for that, so she assumed he wanted her to keep wearing it. After picking up her dirty clothes and dropping them into the basket, and grabbing her phone off her nightstand, she went out towards the living room, only making a quick stop in the bathroom to answer the call of nature and splash some water on her face.

When she got out th the living room, she found Josh sitting on the arm of the chair next to the couch, a small duffel bag at his feet, 2 paper to-go cups from a coffee shop around the corner in hand. Shawn was still in his pj's sitting on the couch, and they were chatting about baseball scores or something else equally inconsequential that she immediately forgot she even heard. "What's this about?" Maya croaked out, a mix of grumpy and happy.

Josh holds out one of the cups to her with a smile. "We're going away for the week."

Her brain is still not awake. She has the coffee cup in her hand, and is slowly blinking at him like he had just spoken to her in fluent Greek. Now she was a mix of grumpy, happy, and hella confused as she tries to process what he's saying and pair it up with the coffee and a duffle bag. She's still confused when he reaches to the chair behind him and brings out a pair of her flipflops, before he leans down and places them in front of her feet, so she only needs to step into them. He motions for her to do so, and she settles her feet into the flimsy sandals. That was simple enough for her brain right row. The rest was still a mystery. She hears a weird sound, and her eyes drift over to Shawn, who is visibly holding back guffaws. Now she's grumpy, happy, confused, and irritated. Before she can flip him off, Josh slings the duffle bag over one shoulder, grabs a key ring that she hadn't noticed before from the coffee table, and puts an arm around her waist, guiding her over to the front door. As he opens the door and maneuvers her out of it, he turns his head back to Shawn and says "Thanks again, man, I'll let you know when we get there!"

Shawn's "Have fun!" was muffled by the door.

In the elevator, Josh manages to get her to at least start drinking the coffee he had handed her minutes ago. She is hugging it to her chest like a teddy bear as he continues to lead her out of the elevator on the first parking garage level below her building. As he clicks something, there's flashing lights and a short beep from his hand-me-down Jeep to indicate the doors are unlocked. "We're…. Going somewhere….?" she slowly gets out before taking another sip of her coffee.

"Yup!" Josh is chipper. He opens the passenger side door and gets her seated before closing it and going around to the driver's side. He flips the driver's seat forward and tosses the duffle bag in the back. Looking back there, she sees another duffle, and a few bags of what looks like groceries.

He is now sitting in the driver's seat and closing his door. She sees him reach back to grab his seatbelt, and does the same. Another drink of coffee and she thinks she is starting to put this bizarre puzzle together. "Where we going?"

As he twists his body around to back out of the Visitor's parking space, he flashes her another bright smile. "Up to Shawn's cabin." As he pulls the Jeep out into the sparse traffic on her street at this hour, he reaches forward and clicks the sound system on, before handing her the end of the AUX cord to plug her phone in, indicating that she should put some music on. She did, somewhat mechanically, still not really awake.

An indeterminate amount of time later, she gets to the end of her coffee and feels prepared to try and figure out what's going on. She looks out the window to see that they are already out of the city, on a highway, heading upstate. Shawn's cabin is about a 3-4 hours drive from home. Putting her cup in the bag in the back he had asked her to put his into awhile ago, she gives her face one last rub of wake-up and asks, "So, we are going up to Shawn's cabin. Why? And for how long?"

"We are going up to Shawn's cabin, because it is now a universally recognized fact that you are working yourself into the ground, between school, volunteering, and actual work. You need a break. You need to relax. And I missed you like crazy the last couple months, so I decided I wanted to spend time with you before we both had school getting in the way." She opened her mouth to protest working herself too hard, but he didn't give her a chance to voice it. "As for how long, we will be there for a week. Your mom talked to your boss, so you aren't working until a couple days after school starts. She also called the shelter and told them that you are going on a surprise vacation, so they can find someone else to take your shifts."

She wants to protest that she can't afford to take nearly 2 weeks off of work, but knows that it won't hold water. Plus, is she really going to complain about a week alone in the middle of nowhere with Josh? And her mom and Shawn were clearly involved, so it was a parent-sanctioned trip to the middle of nowhere with the guy she's been nutso for for years. The only thing he appears to have missed is that she had plans to hang out with her sisters tomorrow, which he couldn't have known, because it just got planned yesterday on her break at work. She picks up her phone to text Nikki that she's super sorry, but Josh has surprised her with a trip upstate, and asking if they can reschedule for an afternoon next week. She has no idea why her sister is awake at barely-8 on a summer Sunday, but the reply that they understand and to have fun comes quickly, and Maya is thankful that Nikki is so easy-going.

2 days later, Maya thinks she might be in actual heaven. Other than to take pictures or reply to the occasional message, she and Josh have barely picked up their phones for last 2 days. There's no books except the shelf of fiction left over from when Shawn lived here full time. Neither of them brought a laptop, so there was no internet or movies or tv. It was just the 2 of them, hanging out, chatting or in silence, sitting in the sun to try and get the best tan they can in a week, or hiking through the woods surrounding them. Josh had been right in saying she needed this. Maya had not realized how stressed out she was until she woke up the morning after they got there, and she processed the fact that she had no responsibilities that day except eating.

At this specific moment, Maya is laying in the late summer sun on a towel in the cleared area at the back of the cabin that functions as a yard. She's on her tummy, bikini top untied to reduce tan lines, and Josh is massing her back. At first, he had just been rubbing sunscreen in so she didn't get burned, then he realized how tense her muscles were and decided that a back rub was in order. She groaned in appreciation as he dug at a knot in her shoulder to get it to release.

"Clearly, I need to start doing this regularly," Josh says as that knot releases and he almost immediately finds another one only a couple inches away.

Maya replies "Well, you certainly wouldn't be getting any complaints from me if you did." She also makes a mental not to return the favor for him later. He had less going on than her, but she would get to touch him basically freely for the duration, plus it was just the courteous thing to do… right? Right.

"Well, it IS pretty fantastic to have an excuse to touch you this much," he echoed her thoughts.

She smiled at knowing that he was enjoying this as much as she was. Honestly, if this kept going for much longer, she thought she might have to run back inside for the "bathroom" to, erm, relieve some pressure… before she ended up doing it laying right there while he was running his hands up and down her back.

But seriously, this felt SO GOOD. She idly wondered if he had taken a class or something, not realizing that the question had popped out of her mouth until he answered it a moment later.

She could hear the smile in his voice as he said, "I did, actually. You remember when dad was really sick for awhile a few years ago? You would've been, like, 12, I think." She confirms that she remembers, and he goes on. "Well, mom was still working at the real estate agency, and was helping the manager take care of the store, AND taking care of dad. I did what I could to help, but I was only like 15, soooo….. Anyways, I ended up getting a Groupon for one of those 3-day classes that are geared toward couples. It was kinda awkward, but was totally worth it the following Sunday when I sat Mom down in front of a meal that I cooked then gave her a shoulder rub. She was so happy that she started crying."

"You're so sweet. That was the first thing I ever realized about you that made me like you. But I was 6, so that came out in teasing and stealing your GI Joe."

He laughed at the memory. That had been the first time she had come over to his parents house with Riley. They had stayed for 2 weeks during the summer. Despite her teasing and stealing his GI Joe, all he had seen back then was a very pretty, very sad little girl, so he hadn't even been upset. He is now aware that that had only been about a year after her parents' divorce had been finalized, and things at home were not great as Maya had basically become a latch-key kid in New York City at the age of 5, while Katy worked 2 jobs to pay bills. He mentally thanked whatever was out in the universe that she had wandered into his niece's bedroom window instead of being snatched up off the street by some pervert.

As he ran his hands firmly up her back, he realized he had gotten pretty much all the knots out. There was probably a couple he'd missed, but he could always do this again later. Moving down her body, he put more of the sun lotion on her legs, knowing she had done it before she came out this morning, but that was working on a couple hours ago. That, he capped off with a foot rub as well.

As he was working on her feet, Maya said, "You're doing it again."

"What's that?"

"Making it really hard to not be in love with you."

Josh was quiet for a moment, then crawled up towards her head, legs and arms straddling either side of her. He lowered himself down to whisper in her ear "What makes you think I don't want you to be in love with me?" He watched as she bit her lip. He was so low over her back, that when she shifted, her ass inadvertently ground up into his stomach. He nuzzled behind her ear and said, "Hell, I gave up not being in love with you ages ago." With a kiss to the hair on the side of her head, he then got up and went inside.

She expected that she would be tense at that interaction, but it ended up being entirely the opposite. At his declaration, something inside of her loosened that she hadn't even realized had been tense. She was still laying there smiling like an idiot when Josh came back out with his own towel, as well as a couple bottles of water and a plate of cut up pineapple and some strawberries for them to snack on. He set the food and drinks on her towel so he could spread out his own.

"You mind sitting up long enough to put some sun block on my back for me?" he asked even as he started rubbing it into his own legs.

Maya quickly and loosely tied the strings on her top, then sat up on her knees behind him, grabbing the tube of lotion and squeezing some into her hand before beginning to slowly work it into his back. Not in a massage-y way like he had, because of the awkward angle, but very clearly taking her time and touching him as much as possible. He glanced back at her with a smile as he moved on to do his own arms, and she squirted more lotion into her hands before scooting forward so her knees were on either side of his hips. She pressed up against his back and rested her chin on his shoulder as she reached around and started rubbing the lotion into his chest and stomach. Josh leaned back into her slightly, tipping his head back to rest on her shoulder while she worked. She was sad when she was done, even taking her time, but, eventually, she was, and so she mirrored his earlier actions, kissing the side of his head and moving to lay back down, this time on her back to get some sun on her front, popping a chunk of pineapple into her mouth on her way. As he laid down on his stomach, head facing her direction, he reached down and threaded his fingers through hers. As she smiled back over at him, he scrunched up his face and stuck his tongue at her, making her laugh.

Considering Maya hasn't even had her first kiss yet, this has been a pretty forward morning. She is certain that, had it been anyone else, she would be freaking out and acting completely Looney Tunes. But, with all the time they have spent together in the last year, and how much they talked, and how unreservedly they had talked…. She hadn't even thought once about being that bold, much less twice. It had felt like the most natural thing in the world to just cozy up to his back and rub sun screen into his chest.

For Josh's part, he was a bit less comfortable, but that was mostly due to the fact that he had not intended to set off that chain of events, and he was now desperately willing his body to calm the hell down. Having had a couple girlfriends through high school, he was more experienced than her in both the emotional side of relationships and the physical. While his current, er, problem... was a completely understandable physical reaction that he had zero conscious control over, he didn't want Maya to think he was trying to push things.

Back in the city, there was more turmoil about Josh and Maya being out at the cabin.

"Oh good, she really needed a break. I'm glad Josh takes such good care of her." Topanga says as she refills water cups around the table. She had taken this week off to spend with the kids before school started again. Shawn was over to have lunch with the family, and had just informed them why exactly Josh had left all his stuff here when he stayed overnight on Saturday, and where he currently was. And with whom.

"EXCUUUUSE ME?! HOW CAN YOU BE HAPPY WITH THIS?" Cory, per usual, was taking it less than gracefully. He turned from Topanga to Shawn. "AND YOU?! HOW CAN YOU BE OK WITH THIS?!"

Everyone is so inured to Cory's ways that they just kept eating. Shawn swallowed his bite and answered, "What is there to be ok with, Cor? When Josh first talked to me about it, he was completely honest with me about what is going on with them, and I trust him to not try and take advantage of being alone with Maya in the middle of nowhere. He's a good kid. Between your parents and you guys, how could he possibly be anything else?"

"Shawn. Your cabin only has one bed." Cory pointed out.

"Yeah, and...?" Shawn still didn't see the problem. As Cory opens his mouth for a tirade, Shawn cuts him off. "Cor, she stayed over in his dorm room all the time last year. Especially when SATs and her finals were all happening. He was helping her study, and she would end up crashing there a few times a week sometimes. He had a single dorm; where do you think she slept then?" Cory looked scandalized. "If Josh was going to try anything, he would've done it a long time ago. Frankly, even if that was an issue, he's probably the only teenage boy that I think I would trust with her. They aren't together, yet, but when it finally happens, I still won't care. Frankly, just thinking the words 'My daughter's first serious relationship is with a Matthews' makes me a little giddy. This is the _best_ _possible_ scenario for me. Maya's in love with a guy that I have known since he was born, who I know, without a doubt, is a complete gentleman, who cares about her so much that he goes days and states out of his way to make sure she doesn't work herself into the ground, and generally treats her like a princess."

"He has a point, honey. With the amount of time they spend together, there's always ample opportunity for shenanigans, them being up at the cabin alone isn't any worse than being in his dorm room."

"Besides, daddy, you don't get upset when me and Ava are alone together, and we're married. And uncle Josh and Maya are WAY older than us." Auggie chimed in.

"But you and Ava are married, honey. Maya and Josh aren't. There's a difference." Cory responded.

Auggie raised his eyebrows. "Then why aren't you upset about all the times Lucas has slept over in Riley's room?"

All heads turned in Riley's direction. Riley had the deer-in-headlights look. "I-I can ex-"

Topanga held out her hand, face too far calm for it to be good for Riley. "Phone." Riley set her phone in her mother's hand. "Go get your laptop, tablet, and iPod, bring them down, and leave them in the office."

"Yes ma'am." Riley said quietly, slinking of to do as she had been told.

Four days later, Maya was once again laying on a towel, out in the sun. Today was their last day up here, and Maya was determined to do as little as possible, knowing the chaos that the next 3 and a half months would bring. It would also be their last night alone together until further notice. Josh had not hit the dorm lottery again, so he had a roommate this year. She could probably still stay over, but having another person in the room would certainly change the atmosphere.

This had been the most relaxing time Maya had ever had. Josh and Maya hadn't don't much in the way of planning, taking each chunk of time as it came. As the mood struck, one of them would suggest going for a walk in the woods, so they would. One morning, Maya had mentioned wanting to go swimming, so Josh looked up nearby options, and they ended up driving about 45 minutes to spend the whole day at a lake. The had cooked either together or for each other every day. Neither of them was the next big culinary star, but Josh was pretty good at breakfast, and Maya was surprisingly handy with the gas grill that was set up outside the kitchen door.

Maya opened her eyes as a shadow fell over her. "You're blocking my sun." she said, waving him over to a spot that was more convenient for her tanning requirements.

Josh chuckled and acquiesced. "Are you getting hungry for lunch yet? I was thinking kebabs."

"You know I can always eat," Maya replied, shining her most cheesy grin up at him.

"Alright, I'll holler when they're ready," He then set down a bottle of spray-on sunscreen to silently remind her that she was due for a refresher, and a fresh bottle of water, also picking up her empty. That done, he headed back to the cabin to get lunch started.

Later that evening, Maya was packing her bag back up. Her mom had included exactly what Maya would need, and nothing more. A single pair of cargo shorts, a beach wrap, her running shoes, a pair of water-socks, 2 pairs of regular socks, a few tank tops, 2 pairs of sleep shorts, and 2 bikinis- one of which was brand new, and Maya was impressed with her mother's taste in swimwear. There was also a toiletry bag with her razor, travel sizes of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, and the spray-on sunscreen that they had used mostly in between massaging the lotion that Josh had brought into each other. She would be wearing the shirt that Josh had brought her up here in to sleep tonight, so she left out clean undies and the yoga pants she had worn up here out for tomorrow's trip back to the city.

As Maya was zipping her bag back up, Josh came into the bedroom, in nothing but his boxers, still damp from the shower he'd just taken. "Are you going to shower in the morning?"

At this point, she neither felt bad nor tried to disguise her looking at his body. She shakes her head, "No, I will wait til we're home."

As her eyes make their way up to his, he smirks at her still checking him out after they had spent the last week just this side of naked around each other. "Alright, I'm going to throw our towels and sheets in the wash so they can dry tomorrow before we leave." He had stripped the sheets they'd been using all week earlier that day, and replaced them with fresh ones so that dirty sheets wouldn't be sitting on the bed for who knows how long until someone else came up here. As he walked back out to do that, she shamelessly checked out his ass before making sure her phone was plugged into the charger by the bed, and crawling into the clean sheets.

Realizing she hadn't actually looked at her phone for, like, 2 days, she picked it up and unlocked it, only to find it blown up with notifications from various social media. Clearing them all, she pulled up Instagram, since it looked like that had the most. Apparently, she hadn't noticed exactly how often Josh had been taking pictures over the past week. It looked like he had posted them all in a burst sometime yesterday. All the notifications were for photos that he'd tagged her in. The most popular ones were from their day at the lake, but her favorite was one with barely any notes. It featured the two of them in front of the grill outside, his arm wrapped around her from behind as she tended the steaks, mushrooms, and peppers that were on the grate. She saved that one, as well as a pretty, artsy one of her floating on her back in the lake, with her hair fanned out in the water, and the reflection of the sky all around her. It looks like he'd taken from the dock she'd been floating near when he came to drag her to dry land for lunch.

She was going through the rest of her social media apps when Josh came back into the bedroom, closing the door behind him to block out the noise from the washer in the next room. All of the other notifications were more comments on the same photos that had cross-posted off of Insta.

As he settled into the other side of the bed and turned off his bedside lamp, she locked her phone, set it back on the nightstand, and turned off her light as well. They then organized themselves in the middle of the bed, on their sides, face to face. Her hands came up to rest on his chest, his arm draped over her waist, their legs tangled together. It was a well-practiced dance by now. They liked to lay like this and talk, or, sometimes, just stare at each other, before falling asleep.

She tells him the pictures she liked that he had posted of them or her, and he describes his favorites. There's a few minutes of silence, then she poses the question, "Someday?"

He keeps staring at her for several beats before answering. "How about right now?"

It takes Maya several moments to realize what's happening. When she does, her face lights up with the most radiant smile he's ever seen. Nodding minutely, she says, "Right now."

His smile matches hers. His hand moves from her waist to tuck some stray hair behind her ear, then cup her face. As he kisses her, her whole body feels tingly with joy.

When they walk through the door to Maya's apartment the next day, Katy immediately comments on how relaxed and happy Maya looks.

Maya responds, "Yeah, I had no idea how stressed out I was. I really needed this break." as she smiles at Josh.

Katy smiles at Josh as well, moving from Maya to him for a hug. "Well, it's a good thing we have Josh to take care of you, then." Taking the cabin key that Josh offers up, she moves into the kitchen to hang it on the hook in there. "Will you stay for dinner, Josh? I'm making pork chops."

"No thanks, Mrs. Hunter. I promised my brother and Topanga that I would have dinner with them tonight before I take all my stuff over to the dorm to get settled in tomorrow morning."

"Ah. OK. Are you aware of the current drama going on over there?"

"Oh god, do I even want to know?"

"Cory was throwing one of his usual blusters about the two of you being alone up at the cabin, then Auggie pops off asking why he isn't that upset about Lucas sleeping in Riley's room." As Maya and Josh both look at her dumbfounded, she continues, " I guess she has been grounded for a minimum of 2 months, and she has to quit the cheer squad. Her parents have gotten her one of those emergency phones for little kids that can't do anything but call 5 pre-programmed numbers, and taken away every electronic that can access the internet. She's only allowed supervised access to a laptop for typing up homework."

Several minutes later, Katy is completely unsurprised that they kiss goodbye as Josh heads back out to go see what he can salvage at his brother's house.


	4. Chapter 4

As far as randomly-assigned roommates go, Josh wasn't too upset with this one.

"So, anyways, what was I saying? Right, I'll probably only be here about half the nights of the week." Adam said in a campy, fluttering voice. Adam was a tall, kinda skinny black guy, with wiry muscles, and a shaved head. He had just finished explaining to Josh that his boyfriend had already graduated, and had an apartment, with a couple roommates of his own, off-campus, where Adam would likely be staying several nights each week.

Josh thought that, even if he hadn't hit the single-room lottery again, he appeared to have gotten pretty much the next best thing. He already liked Adam, with his easygoing attitude and relaxed, friendly chatter. It also helped that he wouldn't have to worry about being jealous if Adam happened to be here the same night as Maya, and spotted her in her rather skimpy sleepwear.

/I really need to get a handle on that before it becomes a problem/ Josh thought to himself about his acknowledged jealousy issue.

As both guys continued to unpack their bags and boxes, they got to know each other. Josh told Adam about Maya, bragging about how smart and driven she was, as she had worked her butt off to be on track to graduate from high school this coming December, a year and a half early. Adam called them cute, and reminisced about when he and his boyfriend of 3 years, Evan, had still been in that cute honeymoon phase.

The talk turned to family, and Adam shared that he had 2 sisters, one younger and one older, and his parents had split up when he was 13. When he had come out, his mother and sisters had been unfazed and continued on with life as normal, but his dad had blown a gasket and refused to talk to or about Adam since.

"His loss. As my mom would say, 'Good riddance to bad rubbish'," Josh commented, before starting the story of his own, rather crazy, family. His 22-years-older brother, the eccentric New York State Senator; his 18-years-older brother, everyone's favorite crazy history teacher, and Cory's best friend; his 18-years-older might-as-well-be brother, his girlfriend's step-father. His 12-years-older sister, who is a dental hygienist in Boston. How he was a SURPRISE baby to two great parents who happen to be mostly-retired now. His niece, who is only 3 years younger than him. As he explained the dynamics, he told stories to illustrate, and, a couple times, Adam ended up doubled over laughing at Josh's insane family.

As posters and other decoration began going up, the topic turned to their interests. Josh explained that the photos of churches were for the architecture (his major), not the religion, though he did consider himself very loosely Christian. As Adam put up his music-themed items, he told Josh that his major was in business management, but he was also minoring in music theory.

Around 4, there is a knock at their door, interrupting them comparing favorite bands. Adam's side of the room is closest, so he answers the door, immediately recognizing Maya from the photo Josh had shown off earlier. He somehow manages to make his voice is more camp as he throws the door wide open and sing-songs "Joshie-poo, your girlfriend is here!"

Maya giggles as she comes in, leaving the door open. She has a paper bag in her hands, which she sets down on one of the desks. "And you must be Adam! I love those jeans, and are those designer heels I see in that closet?" Josh had texted her the basics about Adam awhile ago

Adam gave Maya a coy look, "Oh gurl. We are going to get along fabulously."

With a smile, Maya takes the final couple steps toward Josh and gives him a quick kiss. "I'm not staying, I just figured I should drop by on my way to your brother's house, since I know you probably got so wrapped up in unpacking that you skipped lunch."

Josh looked bashful. "You know me too well. What would I do without you."

"Starve, apparently." Another quick peck and she turned to head back out the door. "Adam, I wasn't sure what you would like, so there's a variety in there, condiments on the side. Don't have TOO much fun getting to know each other, boys." With a wink, she left and pulled the closed behind her.

"I haven't known you 6 hours and your girlfriend is already feeding me. A man can get use to this." Adam said happily as Josh unpacked 4 homemade sandwiches, and dumped out the handful of condiment packets that he knows Maya had likely accidentally carted home in her apron after work over time.

A short time later, Maya arrives at the Matthews' apartment. Shawn had left for an assignment in North Carolina that morning, and her mom had the closing shift at Topanga's tonight, but Maya had been summoned for a family dinner before school began tomorrow morning.

She walked in, as always, without knocking. "Oh hey, honey, you're early!" Topanga said from the kitchen table. It looked like she was working on some paperwork in between tending a couple things on the stove.

"Yeah, well, I had to go drop off food so your brother-in-law didn't starve. He was so busy gabbing with his new roomie that they missed lunch." Maya said with a fond smile. "Anything I can help with?" she asked, gesturing to the stove.

"No, there isn't much left to do but let things cook. Cory's picking up Auggie from Dewy's, and it's Auggie's night to set the table."

Nodding, Maya thought for a moment before asking, "Ok… is it alright if I go up to talk to Riley until dinner?"

Topanga smiled at her gently. "As long as you leave your phone down here, I don't see why not. Dinner will be ready in about half an hour, I'll come get you two then."

Maya set her phone at her usual spot at the table, then headed upstairs. She opened Riley's door, again without knocking, and saw Riley sitting in the window, looking down at the street. Maya walked in and gently closed the door behind her, before going over to join Riley. There were now locks in the windows that only let you open them about 5 inches without the key - enough to let fresh air in, but not enough to crawl through. There was one of those glass-breaking emergency tools hanging on a little hook just next to the window, presumably in case of an actual fire in which the escape would need to be utilized.

Maya sat down next to Riley, who had her knees folded up to her chest and was hunched around them in a ball. "I'm not supposed to have anyone up here." Riley said in a morose tone, without looking at Maya.

"Your mom said it was ok."

"Oh" was the quiet reply.

After a several minutes of silence, Maya heaved a big sigh and leaned her head to rest on Riley's hunched shoulder. Quietly, she said, "You done messed up, kid." It wasn't in an unkind way, just a simple statement to acknowledge the elephant in the room.

"I know," Riley's voice wavered.

May turned a bit and wrapped herself around Riley, hugging her, and petting her hair a little. "It'll be alright, sweetie." Evidently, that was the thing Riley needed to hear. She uncurled herself enough to wrap her own arms around Maya in return, and started crying with big, painful-sounding sobs.

She was still crying, though not as hard, ten minutes later when Topanga silently cracked the bedroom door open and made eye contact with Maya over Riley's head. One of those silent conversations happened, and Topanga nodded gently before closing the door again, and heading back downstairs. Auggie was finishing setting the table, and Cory was filling glasses with water. When he looked at her questioningly, she said "The girls will be down a little later." without further explanation.

The girls made it down 20 minutes later, while Auggie was telling his parents about a show that he and Dewy had been watching. Maya was sombre, and it was very clear that Riley had been crying, her eyes red and puffy, and she was still sniffling a little.

They plated themselves up, and, when Auggie's story came to an end, Riley asked "Mom, dad? When we are done eating, is it ok if Maya comes back up to my room?" Riley looked over at the blond girl next to her "I have a very big apology I need to make, and I don't want it to wait any longer."

There wasn't even a glance between the parents, Cory just said "Of course, Riley." Turning to Maya, he asked, "So, what do you have left to do before graduation?"

Maya detailed the courses she had finished over the summer term, "Well, I'm done with History, English, Art, PE, and Social Studies. Senora Chang was one of the summer school teachers this year, so I am and about halfway done with my work for Spanish 3, which will be my last elective requirement, and I am about a third of the way through 2nd year Trig. So, basically, my last 3 months will be finishing those up, and cramming a whole year of Intermediate Computer Science into one term."

"Don't push yourself too hard trying to meet that December deadline. It won't be the end of the world to get your diploma in January instead. That's still a year and a half early." Topanga said with a worried tone.

"Yeah, I don't need my very first sister-in-law to be catatonic for the wedding!" Cory teased.

Maya blushed. Hard. "It's been TWO DAYS!"

"Oh, honey," Auggie said in a pitying tone, "It has been WAY MORE than two days."

"He has a point. You may have just made it official two days ago, but you two have been in a relationship for, what?" Topanga looked to Cory "At least a year?"

"About there, yeah." Cory replied. As Maya opened her mouth in protest, he went on, "All the going for runs, followed by breakfast, or coffee, or froyo, study dates in between, movie nights, don't even get me started on that show you two put on for each others' birthdays this year!"

"Friends do all that stuff!" Maya interjected.

"Yes, honey, but friends don't do all that stuff while constantly flirting, and holding hands, and hugging, and cuddling, and staring dreamily into each others eyes, and sleeping in the same bed several times a week." At that part, Riley looked wide-eyed at Maya. She had, of course, known that Maya and Josh were a lot closer, and had been there for the same-bed conversation that had landed her into massive trouble, but she hadn't quite heard everything put together like that before.

Maya was still blushing. "SO AUGGIE. Are you excited for 4th grade?"

"Oh no! You aren't getting out of this that easy, Auntie Maya," he responded

Maya's forehead hit the table next to her plate as the rest of the table laughed.

Back in the bay window after dinner, Riley and Maya sat next to each other. "I'm not calling you Auntie Maya."

"Good."

"I owe you an apology-" Riley started.

Maya interrupted, "No, you don't."

"Of course I do!" Riley looked alarmed. "Maya, I was a horrible friend! I got so wrapped up in having a boyfriend, and being in the popular crowd that I forgot about my best friend. And without my best friend, I turned into someone that I don't like. My parents were right a few months ago. Riley Matthews isn't supposed to be the kind of kid that goes to parties where illegal things are happening and gets arrested! Or sneaks her boyfriend in to stay the night when she thinks she can get away with it. I let my best friend - actually, ALL of my best friends - down by not being there for you - for any of you! The only reason I still talk to Zay is because of Lucas, I don't remember the last time I said more than 'Hey' to Farkle or Smackle in the hall. This is the first time you and I have said more than two sentences to each other in nearly 2 years! And I'm sorry, Maya! I am so SO sorry!"

Maya looked at Riley as she said all this. She thought very carefully about her reply before she said anything. Grabbing Riley's hands, Maya said, "I know you're sorry, honey. And I forgive you. But, as much as I have missed you, and as bad as it was for me at first, I'm sorry, but I don't regret most of what has come out of this." She held Riley's hands harder as Riley flinched back, "No, let me explain. I do miss you. But, at the same time… I'm about to graduate early. I'm graduating before Smarkle! I was forced to figure out how to do all the things that I used to rely on you and Farkle for - and I am a better person for it. And, as embarrassed as I was at dinner, your family was right about me and Josh. We built a relationship based on an amazing friendship." Maya took a deep breath before getting to the next part. "And, if Josh and I hadn't been hanging out like we had been, I probably wouldn't know my little sisters."

Riley's brow furrowed. "Little sisters?"

"My father's other kids. Nikki and Cassie. Kermit told them about me when they moved to the city last year, and Nikki looked me up online, then happened to spot me one day when Josh and I were hanging out at the arcade, and approached me. She'll be 13 this year. Cassie just turned 9."

Riley thought for a moment. "But, if she is almost 13, and your parents divorced when-"

"Yeah…. finding out about Nikki is what put the final nail in the coffin of that relationship for my mom. Then, a few months later, I crawled through some other little girls' window, because I could hear her singing." They smiled at the memory.

"Peaches?"

"Yeah, honey?"

"How do we get back to where we used to be?"

Maya smiled sadly. "We don't, honey." Riley looked hurt. "We can't go back. There's no re-dos in life." Maya squeezed Riley's hands again. "But what we can do is move forward. Where's your ring?"

Riley got up and got her friendship ring out of her jewelry box. "I didn't want to put it back on until I knew for sure we were friends again." she said as she sat back down.

Maya took the ring from Riley. "Well, like I said, we can't go back to what we were. We're different people than we use to be. But that doesn't mean we can't get back to being best friends." She put the ring on Riley's right index finger. "I'm not gonna lie to you, honey, it will probably take awhile. Your parents have been lenient today because they knew we needed to work things out, but you are still grounded for 2 months. Plus, I am super busy with school, and work, and volunteering. Plus, I also need to start filling out college applications and applications for grants and scholarships…. and I have this boyfriend."

"I'm so proud of you, Maya." Riley smiled.

Maya returned the smile, and held up the finger that her ring had never left. "Thunder?"

Riley put hers up. "Lightning."

It's the night before Halloween, and Josh and Maya's movie night was getting frustrating- for Maya. While she and Josh's interactions had pretty much just morphed to include kissing, that was about all that had been included. Even when they were snuggled up in bed for the night, his hands were staying stubbornly outside of clothing, firmly in "safe zone" territory on her back and stomach. She was thinking about this as she pretended to watch whatever was playing on his laptop in front of them. /For such an observant guy, he is being pretty slow on the uptake with this/ she thinks. /Guess I just need to be undeniably clear./

With that final thought, Maya reaches forward and closes the laptop before reaching down to slide it under the bed so it's out of the way.

Josh is giving her a weird look. "We could've found a different movie."

"Sorry, I have something else in mind." with this, she manages to impress herself by smoothly and quickly flipping around from her previous position next to him to straddling his lap. Next, she reaches down to the hem of her sleep tank-top and pulls it off in one motion, dropping it down next to the bed.

Josh looks surprised. His eyes are resolutely glued to her face. She leans forward to kiss him, a bit harder than she normally does. His hands go to and stay at her hips, the only relatively chaste place left with clothing covering it. One of her hands is on his chest- they're ready for bed already, so he's shirtless- while the other has threaded up into his hair. After a few minutes, she pulls back and looks at him. They're both breathless, but she could tell, more blatantly this time, that he is holding back. "You are holding back on me." She doesn't like that. "I don't like that."

Josh sighs a little. "I don't want us to rush this, Maya. It's easy to get caught up in the feelings and just go for it. I don't want you to regret anything later."

She softens a little at this. Grabbing his face, she lays it out for him. "Babe, I'm not suggesting we jump straight to sex. I may be inexperienced in this area, but I'm not naive. I do have internet access, after all," she jokes slightly, with the desired result of making him smile. "Look, there's A LOT of ground in between kissing and sex that we can explore. If, at any point, I feel uncomfortable, or not ready for something, I will tell you. And I expect you to do the same." at this juncture, she leans closer to his face and lowers the volume, " Joshua Gabriel Matthews, I have been in love with you for years, and I trust you more than anyone. But we can't figure out where the lines are until we go find them." She stays close to his face, but her hands move down to cover his, moving them from her hips up to her ribcage. "Now, I really want you to stop worrying about pushing me, and start touching me, and looking at me. It's starting to feel like you don't want to do either." She waits for him to process what she had said, and, once he nods his understanding and visibly relaxes, looking her bare torso up and down appreciatively, she leans forward to kiss him again, smiling into his lips as his hands slowly begin wandering.

/much better./

Her alarm goes off early the next morning. It's Halloween, and she had brought her costume with her to put on before she leaves for school. She thinks couples costumes are crazy cheesy, but cheese is one of her favorite things, so she and Josh are coordinated. Thinking about how long her day is going to be, she is glad that they had landed on something fairly easy. She wouldn't have any complicated makeup to apply and keep up all day, just a bunch of clip-in hair extensions that she's probably going to want to rip out by the time she gets back here tonight. She extracts herself from Josh's bed with a pang of regret- she wants to just lay there and watch him sleep for hours.

Putting her tank top from the night before back on, she grabs the bag hanging from his desk chair and heads for the ladies bathroom, thankfully just a couple doors down this year. She's glad she got up extra early, knowing that there wouldn't be room to spread out in a bit. She lays out the extra-long extensions out over a dry sink and plugs in the two curling irons she brought- there was going to be so much to curl that she had borrowed her mom's to switch between the two so there was always a hot one. She moves a couple sinks down to brush her teeth and wash her face so no water gets on anything, noting that she FINALLY has a hickey on her neck to hide (yeah, it's a weird goal, she knows). After taking care to clip the extensions in evenly and securely, she gets to work with the curling irons. Thankfully, she isn't doing a complete job, just curling all of the ends, and at varied intervals up to near her scalp, to give the effect of curly hair rather than full on barrel curls to her knees.

By the time she's done, other girls have begun filtering in and out getting ready for their days. Next, she squeezes herself into the over-bust corset, and is struggling to get it tightened properly when an incoming girl offers to help. As Maya is rolling up her stockings to attach to the garters hanging from the bottom of the corset, she begins chatting with Andrea (call me Andi), the girl who just helped her, who's now in the shower. They continue talking as both apply makeup for the day, Andi applying much more severe makeup for her costume of Marie Antoinette. Thankfully, Andi also helps Maya maneuver into her long, violet, satin dress around the mass of blond curls hanging down her back. Maya asks if Andi needs help with her own corset and dress, knowing that French Revolution era regalia is even more unwieldy than her own medieval era Rapunzel, but Andi says her roommate is helping with that. Maya punches the girls number into her contacts and texts her so Andi has her number, before they both pack up and exit the bathroom, vowing to hang out sometime soon.

Josh is up when Maya re-enters his room, tucking the loose tunic into the brown breeches from the costume rental place. "Well, good morning, my beautiful princess."

She giggles, "Good morning, my thieving scoundrel!"

Twenty minutes later, she doesn't care much that she's running late as they go outside to get a photo in the grey morning light. It goes out across social media " openhartsurgery definitely gave me the easy costume #halloween #tangled #Rapunzel #FlynnRider #wereacutecouple" before he gives her a slow kiss goodbye and they part ways for their separate classes.

She's glad that she has reunited with Riley for homeroom with Mr. Matthews. He won't be too upset at her tardiness. It's not an actual class as much as a twenty-five minute period to get any announcements from the staff and get themselves organized for the day. Maya manages to only be 10 minutes late, and she's far from the only person walking quickly through the halls in varying degrees of elaborate costumery for the occasion.

She gets complimented throughout the day by people passing in the halls, or who she's in class with, many of whom she doesn't even know their names. It's an odd feeling, since she'd been all but invisible up to now.

At the end of the day, she's stuffing her backpack into her locker, knowing she won't have time to do any homework tonight, when a text comes in from Rachel, her step-mother. 'the girls are insisting on you doing their makeup for tonight, do you mind coming over a little early?'

The girls are her little sisters. The younger one, Cassie, is 9 and had, by some coincidence of fate, been put in the same class as Auggie that year. With Topanga hosting the now-annual 'Auggies Class Halloween Party' at the shop, Maya had offered to take Cassie, knowing that her mother would be there helping, and not wanting it to be too awkward for her by having either her ex-husband or the woman he left her for there. Instead, both Kermit and Rachel would be taking Nikki to her school Pumpkin Festival, which was the middle-school equivalent of the 4th grade party she and Cassie would be at.

'No problem. School just let out, will head right over.' Maya replies to Rachel, before pulling her makeup bag out of her locker and maneuvering things in her purse around to make it fit.

Later, she can't help but yawn as she's in the elevator on her way up to her father's apartment. She's been up since 4:30, and still had to do both her sisters makeup/facepaint, take Cassie to Topanga's for the party, bring her home, then meet up with Josh so they could go to his dorm party.

When the apartment door opened, she was greeted with hugs from Nikki, who was in a jester costume. She was quickly led to the kitchen, where Cassie was sitting on the counter in her powder-blue fairy costume, sans wings, fending off Rachel, who was wielding a foundation brush trying to do her daughters makeup.

"Maya's here!" Nikki said loudly, prompting a sigh of relief from both Rachel and Cassie.

Maya adopted a jokey attitude to try and diffuse the tension in the room. "Whadda we got goin on here?"

"Mommy is trying to put skin-color makeup on me!"

"Do you not want skin-color makeup on?" Maya asked curiously.

"I'm a fairy! They have really light, shiny skin!"

Pulling out her makeup bag, Maya said, "Well, I think we can do that. But we still have to put on the foundation first for it to work, ok?"

"Promise I will look like a fairy? Not a princess?"

Maya held out her pinky for Cassie to shake. Rachel handed over the foundation brush and asked if Maya would like some coffee. "That'd be great, thanks."

Dobbing the foundation around Cassie's face, she followed it up with squirts of her liquid highlighter before carefully swirling the two together to cover the girl's face. Next came a white, shimmery powder that got brushed over cheekbones and other key spots to catch the light. As a coffee cup was set down the one side of her, Maya took a long drag of it before reaching behind Cass to grab a paper towel off the roll to clean the brushes a bit.

Next out of her bag came a glittery navy shadow, and matching navy liner. "Close your eyes." Cass did. "Ok, this is going to feel funny, but I need you to keep your eyes closed, kay?"

"Ok!" Cassie said brightly. Maya made short work of applying the shadow before carefully painting on the liner across the top of Cassie's lashes and out to a tip to make her eyes look more narrow like a fairy. Maya then used the liner to swirl delicate patterns down the sides of Cassie's face.

Testing the liner on her lids, Maya said, "Alright, you can open your eyes now. This next part is going to be weird, cuz it's a brush really close to your eye, putting stuff on your lashes. Now, I want you to open your mouth like you're eating a REALLY big cupcake, and look up for me." Cassie giggled as she did as instructed. Maya quickly swiped on the mascara. "Almost done! Just lips left! This time, let your jaw relax so your mouth is a little open, but not like you're eating." Once Cass was properly arranged, Maya used a thick, white lip pencil to cover her lips, then picked the navy eye shadow back up and applied it to the edges of her lips and blending inwards. "All done!"

Cassie hugged Maya and jumped down off the counter to run into the hallway bathroom to check it out. Maya took another long pull of coffee, smiling as she heard an exclamation of "WOW!" from the bathroom and Cass ran back in yelling "THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU" and hugging Maya's middle carefully so she didn't wipe any makeup on Maya's dress.

"You're welcome, sweetie." turning to Nikki "You're up next kid." and motioning towards the place on the counter that Cassie had been. Rachel refilled Maya's coffee cup as Nikki hopped up. Maya smiled her thanks and moved back into position.

She started with the black facepaint that was sitting off to the side next to Rachel's own makeup bag. Telling Nikki to stay very still, Maya used it to paint a large diamond pattern across her face and down her neck. The costume was mostly red and white diamonds, with the occasional goldenrod one thrown in to break it up a bit. Maya echoed the pattern, using matte white and red cream eyeshadow to make most of the sections one or the other, making each very opaque in the center and having it fade out at the edges so it didn't quite reach the line of black. This included the sections for each eye, and she distinguished those with a thick coating of mascara, making her lashes pop out. For the section encompassing Nikki's mouth, Maya pulled out a gold liquid lipstick that she'd bought recently and not had a chance to use yet. Nikki automatically opened her mouth appropriately, and Maya carefully applied the lipstick to her mouth before following up with a similar shade of eyeshadow to blend out like the rest of the sections, using that to finish out a couple others she'd left empty for this purpose.

"That's you finished. " Maya said.

Nikki followed Cassie's example earlier, going into the bathroom and exclaiming "This looks SO COOL!" before running back to hug her big sister with a stream of thank yous.

Maya drained the last of her now lukewarm coffee, declining a third cup. Rachel said "Well, it's probably a good thing they insisted on you doing it. I certainly couldn't have done half as well."

Maya smiled, listening to Kermit come in and greet the girls who had run to the living room to show off their now complete costumes. "Eh, comes with learning to paint, I guess." Packing her makeup away, Maya checked her phone and swore under her breath at the time. "Cass and I should head out, the subway is going to be packed." in short order, a photo of all 3 girls together was taken, Cass had shoes on, and a jacket was slung over Maya's purse in case Cass got cold, and they were on their way to Topanga's.

When they arrived, Cass was met with awe as classmates complimented the pretty makeup, and Maya was met with a hug from Auggie, who was dressed up as Tony Stark (his all-time favorite Avenger) in a smart suit, hair slicked back, and what Maya thought was a few bendy, blue glowsticks under his shirt to mimic the Arc Reactor.

As both kids melted into the groups that were moving from station to station playing the various games for treats, Maya made her way to the register and greeted Ashley, the waitress on duty tonight, before taking her phone out and stashing her bag under the register. For the next 3 hours, she moved around, giving the volunteer parents breaks from manning the game stations, and generally helping the adults keep order with 35 9- and 10-year-olds running around hopped up on sugar.

When the party wound down, Maya texted Rachel that they were on their way back, and took off holding the hand of a Cassie who was starting to crash from the sugar high, and a triple latte in the other hand that she'd ordered just before the coffee bar started closing down. They met Rachel, Kermit, and Nikki in the lobby of their apartment building, and she handed off a quickly fading Cassie to Kermit after a quick hug good night, and hugged Nikki as well before turning back around and heading off to meet Josh at his dorm.

Half an hour later, the espresso was long gone, and Maya was back in the bathroom where she had started her morning, touching up her makeup before she went down to the rec room, where a party was already raging. Josh had met her by the door briefly, kissing her and handing her his room key to drop her stuff off. As she had predicted nearly 17 hours previously, she was sorely tempted to just take out her extensions, wipe off her makeup, and crash in Josh's bed. Instead, she refreshed her mascara and put on another coat of eyeliner before slathering some clear, glittery gloss on her lips and dropping her much-abused makeup bag with the rest of her stuff in Josh's room and heading downstairs to the party.

The next couple hours were spent catching up with friends that she had met spending so much time around the dorm with Josh last year, and chatting with some new people, even introducing Josh to Andi ("She saved my butt this morning from falling all over the bathroom trying to get into this thing"). She stuck with water, and was glad to see Josh had as well. Both of them occasionally indulged at these things, despite being underage, but it had been a long enough day, and they both had classes in the morning to think about.

By 11 o'clock, Maya could no longer hide her exhaustion. As Josh guided her out of the rec room with an arm around her waist, she yawned a couple goodbyes to people they passed, and leaned on him, glad she had opted for flats instead of heels. Making it back to his room, Josh was quickly out of his costume, it being basically normal clothes, and watched as Maya fiddled around in her hair for a couple minutes before carefully pulling the now-tangled-together extensions free from her real hair, before she carefully twisted them all up and wound them around themselves and stuffing the lot into a plastic bag to untangle at a future date. Next, she pulled out a makeup remover wipe and started rubbing her eyes with it while simultaneously backing up to Josh and pulling her hair aside for him to unzip her dress, which she let slide off her arms and onto the floor.

As she unsnapped the garters from the top of her stockings, she said "I need you to loosen the strings on the corset, too. There's a bow in the middle, untie that and loosen outward from there. It doesn't need to be much, just enough for me to undo the clasps on the front."

He followed her instructions as she lifted one leg at a time to take off each stocking, which she folded up and tossed into her duffel. Once the corset was off a minute later, that got folded into the bag as well, and the dress hung back in the garment bag it came in. She made sure she had her clothes for the next day out, and everything else was packed up and ready to grab-and-go in the morning.

Finally, Maya turned to Josh, who was leaning against his dresser. She said "Hi" as she walked into him and snuggled into his chest, still standing up. One of his arms wrapped around her back to hold her. The other hand reached up to gently massage her scalp, knowing it must be hurting after a very long day of hauling so much hair around the city.

He couldn't deny how hot the moan she let out at that was. "C'mon, beautiful, let's get some sleep." he said quietly, turning them towards the bed. She crawled in first, and he asked "Do you want a shirt?" other than last night, he knew she usually slept with one.

"No," Maya replied sleepily. "I like having your skin and my skin touching."

By the time he had locked the door and turned off the light, she was sound asleep, complete with cute little snores that he called her 'mouse snores'. He set his alarm for the last minute they could get up and still be on time, not seeing her phone anywhere, then crawled in with her, smiling as she rearranged herself in her sleep to drape over his chest. As she had said, it was maximum skin-on-skin contact, and he followed her to dreamland surprisingly quickly.

Getting Maya up the next morning was easier than he thought out would be, but a lot of that could be attributed to not having made a bathroom stop on their way up to his room last night, meaning she needed to pee pretty urgently. As they got dressed, they compared notes for the upcoming days. She was working that night straight through the weekend, including a volunteer shift at the women's shelter, and her trig final would be next Tuesday. He has a big test on Friday, and late-season camping plans outside the city with some friends over the weekend. They quickly agree on a study date on Monday and linger for some extra kisses goodbye since they didn't usually go that long without seeing each other.

Maya is convinced it is an act of God that has her walking into homeroom exactly one minute before the late bell, carrying a large coffee that she'd picked up on the way. She asks Mr. Matthews if she can leave her bag in here today, and he stashes it behind his desk. She is certain she looks like hell. In leggings, an extra-long tee, and her comfy Vans, she hadn't put on any makeup to cover her skin that was a bit pasty under her lingering tan due to exhaustion. Her hair was a mess, still partially curled from yesterday, and tangled from sleep, but her scalp was still tender from the extensions, and the thought of brushing it was worse than one day at school looking like death.

Learning from last year, Katy and Maya have coordinated for Thanksgiving weekend. They'll be driving to Philadelphia to join the Matthews family for the day-of, and coming back to New York early Friday morning for Maya's work and volunteer shifts. Maya and Josh are teased good-naturedly about being the next Cory and Topanga by his whole family. Riley reveals that she and Lucas have broken up, as they were now longer compatible. Morgan reveals that she has a steady boyfriend, then immediately follows up by saying "You guys aren't meeting him until AT LEAST the 4th of July barbeque."

The afternoon of December 18th finds an exhausted Maya hitting save on her Computer Sciences final. She will find out tomorrow how she did. She needs a 'B'. She has no idea if she got it. She had been a uncertain to varying degrees on several items. It's only halfway through 5th period, but since that was theoretically the last test for her last class in high school, she had been told she could leave once she was done.

She considered what she could do with her afternoon. Go for a run, draw, paint, surprise her boyfriend with something on his last day of classes before break…. Then, as she sat on the subway, she realized that all of that was way too much work, and all she really wanted to do was sleep for the next week. She got home in short order, going straight to her bedroom and changing into sleep clothes without even turning on a light, then crawling into bed and promptly falling asleep.

The next morning, Maya's brain was no longer transmitting information in HTML code, and she felt mostly human again as she sat anxiously outside Ms. Andrews' office for what would hopefully be the last time. Once she was called inside, she found the Principal and Vice Principal in there as well. The three adults took turns talking about how impressed they were with her, and how much she had achieved, yada yada, then, finally, with little fanfare, they passed a document around, the three of them each pausing to sign it, before it was handed to Maya. She stared down at her high school diploma in shock. She almost missed the small stack of envelopes that Ms. Andrews was holding out for her to take.

When Ms. Andrews noticed Maya's confusion at this unexpected extra stack of something, she smiled kindly and explained, "Several of your teachers wanted to send you off with letters of recommendation. Everyone that has worked with you this last year and a half is incredibly impressed with you. There's one in there from me, as well. Our names are on the back so you can keep track of them."

As Maya walked to her locker to clean it out, she tried to process that she was done. It wasn't penetrating the slight fog around her brain. As she got to her locker, she slowly takes down the photos taped to the inside of the door and stacks them in one of her notebooks so they won't get bent. Packing up the rest of the miscellany into her backpack, she keeps out the Comp. Sci. text and a couple reference books that she needs to return to the library.

After dropping off the books in the Library return bin, Maya slowly makes her way through the halls to Mr. Matthews classroom. He has his classroom arranged this year so that the students backs are to the door, and his desk is facing it. Maya takes her diploma from the big manila envelope it's in and stands in front of the window in the door until he notices her, then presses the document up to the glass. He smiles, before finishing whatever he's telling his 3rd period class and setting them something to work on. He then makes his way out to the hall, immediately wrapping her up in a massive hug and telling her how proud he is of her. That makes it a little more real for her, but she's pretty sure it's not going to really sink in until January, when everyone else is back after the winter break and she is working full time, waiting to find out her options for college.

On her way out of the building, she stops on the front steps, and arranges herself and the diploma to take a selfie with the Abigail Adams High School sign showing in the background. It goes out with the caption "Peace out, AAHS! Time to blow this popsicle stand! #highschoolgrad #yearandahalfearly #abigailadamshighschool"

One week later, Christmas day is doubling as a graduation party for Maya at the Matthews'.

Over dessert, Amy asks Maya, "So, you looking forward to relaxing until you start college next autumn?"

Maya casually replies, "Who has time for relaxing? I need to take full financial advantage of not being 18 yet while I still can."

"What do you mean?" Shawn asks, confused. He'd known she planned to work full time at the diner and keep volunteering, but she made it sound like she'd be doing more than that.

"I mean that, since I have graduated, there's no cap on the number of hours I can work per week, and I don't have to pay income taxes on my earnings until after I turn 18." Maya pauses to take a bite of her cherry pie before continuing. "So, since I have a little over 8 months before worrying about school again, I have that much time to bank as much as possible without paying taxes on it, to contribute towards living expenses when my hours get cut down to part-time again with school."

"Huh," Topanga said thoughtfully, "That's really smart."

Josh looked at his girlfriend, saying, "And I will be standing by to make sure you aren't OVER-working yourself…. Again."

Maya gave a cheesy grin up at him and he put his arm around her shoulders.

"Plus, I can persuade you to come visit me at home this summer, and you can finally learn how to drive!" Josh said, with an equally cheesy grin.

Maya immediately scrunched up her face. "Whhhyyyy?" she whined. They had had the driving discussion before. He was determined that it was an essential life skill, she argued that she would never live anywhere without a subway system. She knew she would give in eventually. He had actually given her some pretty convincing reasons - mainly road trips and emergencies - and he knew that, but it was one of their pet-bickers that they mutually didn't resolve for the fun of needling each other about it.

She opened her graduation "gifts" in her room that night, recognizing that it may be less than tactful to open the all in front of the family, since they all came enclosed in 'Good job, grad!' type cards, and were obviously gifts of money to help out with college. Feeling overwhelmed with the generosity, she signed the backs of all of them and pulled up her banking app to deposit by photo. Most of her Christmas gifts had been similar in nature, though this time in the form of gift cards for various stores, because, at this point, only Josh had any idea what she actually needed or may be wanting (there were a few small things from people that had obviously sought his advice in the matter, but nothing substantial). She was grateful for that too, because most of them were for department stores that could give her a variety of options on what to use them for, and she really needed some new clothes.

Over this year, her body had changed. She hadn't managed to get any taller, unfortunately, but all the running and miscellaneous other working out had changed the shape of her body, and puberty had helped it out. She had been stuck to tights and leggings for a few months now, because her hips had widened and she had a bit of a booty, and the muscles of her thighs and calves had added some bulk there. Additionally, puberty had filled out her chest some more, making her bras and many shirts not fit well. She was sure most people wouldn't even notice most of the changes, but her old closet was less forgiving. Well, Topanga had obviously noticed at least part of that, because one of the gift cards from the Matthews had been for Victoria's Secret. But Topanga was more observant than most.

That thought in mind, Maya grabbed a garbage bag from the kitchen and took it into her room to pack up all the clothes that no longer fit to trade in for store credit at Demolition later in the week when they were open again. She ended up having to go back for a second bag, which ended up mostly full before she was done purging her closet. As she set them against the wall near her door, she knew she'd have to make two trips to get them all to the store. Making a plan in her head, she resolved to fill out her wardrobe as much as she could from Demolition - it being the least expensive - then use the various gift cards to selectively get anything she couldn't find there.

Almost 2 weeks later, she was at the same restaurant as last year for her birthday, with her whole tribe, Riley included this time. Riley had insisted on bumping Auggie over a spot to rejoin her best friend for the occasion. It was the day before her birthday, which she learned had been at Josh's insistence, as his plans for her actual birthday would take the entire day. Similarly, he had made sure she scheduled breakfast with her sisters for Sunday instead of tomorrow. All he would tell her is that he had rolled his gifts to her for her birthday, graduation, and Christmas all into tomorrow (not that she cared about gifts, she was really just curious what he had planned). At least her mom was in on it, as Katy had come in earlier while Maya was packing a bag for staying with Josh the next night and unceremoniously rifled through her daughters slowly-refilling closet and plucking out a couple dresses, considering them both side by side in front of Maya briefly before hanging one back in the closet, and taking the other off the hanger before folding it into her bag and telling Maya to pack whatever shoes would go with it, but plan for a lot of standing. She was curious that, whatever was going on, she wasn't staying with Josh after the family dinner.

The next morning, her alarm went off at 7, as Katy had told her the night before that they were leaving for Birthday Part 1 at 7:30. A few minutes later, Katy popped her head in to tell Maya to wear yoga pants and a tank top. Once Maya was dressed, she went out to the kitchen to find coffee and a breakfast burrito from work waiting for her to scarf down before they left.

She had her overnight bag in hand as Katy led her to… a spa? She looked questioningly at her mother.

"This part is actually from your dad and I. We thought you deserve some pampering after all the work you have been doing." Katy proceeded to check her in, then gave a short 'have fun' before Maya was led down a hallway to a locker room where she could leave her things.

5 hours later, she was wondering how much else was coming. First on the itinerary had been an hour-and-a-half-long hot yoga class, before she had been ushered back to the locker room to change of of her clothes and into one of the fluffy, beige terrycloth robes that all the customers were wearing, while her sweaty clothes were whisked off by an employee to parts unknown. Next up had been a 2 hour massage, then a quick shower before she had been told to pick one or more nail polish colors, then, that completed, was plopped down in a stylist's chair. As a nail technician introduced herself and got set up, a hair stylist asked what she would like done with her hair, just a trim and style, a cut, color? She thought about it as she handed the extra-sparkly grey-purple polish to the nail tech, declining tips or acrylic, knowing they wouldn't last a day at work. Having never really thought about changing her hair, she asked the guy for suggestions to consider, telling him she'd always had it like this, and that she needed to be able to pull it back for work. He proceeded to gather it up in a few ways to give the impression of some different styles, and she decided to be daring and go for a slightly long, layered bob that would land 2 inches below her chin and still let her put it up for work. Through this process, the nail tech had finished the abbreviated manicure and begun a similar process on her feet.

As one of the spa coordinators wandering around with an iPad approached her, she asked if there was anything on the schedule after her hair was done. The woman got her name with a friendly smile, and said brightly "It looks like you have the option for any waxing or sugaring services you may want, and if you wouldn't like any, then I could re-schedule you for a makeup application, if you'd like?" After thinking a moment, Maya declined both and thanked the woman for her help. Not knowing the plans for the rest of the day, she didn't want to commit to a makeup look that she would later need to change.

Her hair was done not too long after this, expertly parted to one side and straightened. As Maya looked at herself in the mirror, she liked it, but it was a shock to her system to have gone from almost-butt-length hair to a short, stylish 'do with very little thought. /meh, C'Est la Vie/ she thought as she ran her fingers through the soft strands /if I end up hating it, there's always extensions until it grows back./

Back in the locker room, she was presented with her yoga clothes, freshly laundered for her to leave in. She changed and unlocked the cabinet/locker thing she'd been assigned, pulling out her phone to find a text from Josh saying to meet him at his dorm when she's done, but text when she's on her way. As she walks back to the reception area and says she's ready to check out, the receptionist slides an iPad across the counter and asks her to confirm everything she'd done and sign in the box at the bottom. She confirms everything she did, which all had the word 'Prepaid' next to the description in lieu of a price, and that the waxing services she declined said 'Declined - refund to card'. Signing, she thanks the receptionist and heads out the front door, texting Josh that she's leaving the spa. He replies quickly, surprised that it was early, and she explained that she had decided she didn't want one of the items on the itinerary.

20 minutes later, she texts him again that she's on her way up the stairs, and he opens his room door when she's still several feet away. He does a double take before he realizes it's her, and she sees his mouth drop open a little and he takes a deep breath. A few steps later, she's at the door, and he is simultaneously pulling her inside and snatching her bag and purse from her, setting them down off to the side before he closes the door and pushes her back against it with a rough kiss, tangling his hands up in her hair.

When Josh finally both their kiss, they were both breathing heavily. Through her panting, Maya smiles and says, "So, I guess you like the new hair?"

"Well…" he hedges as his hands move down to her thighs so he can pick her up. When her legs are around his waist and her arms around his shoulders to steady them, he turns them toward his bed and continues, "I was going to take you out to eat, but now I'm thinking I'll just have you for lunch instead." His grin is wicked, and she blushes even as she smiles and kisses him again as he sets them both down on the bed.


	5. Chapter 5

That evening, Maya was in the ladies room, putting on makeup for the evening. All Josh would tell her is that they were going to a concert. They had ended up ordering some Chinese takeout for lunch and bingeing several episodes of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt after it became obvious they weren't making it to whatever Josh had had planned for the afternoon.

Maya looked over let out a chipper "Hey!" as she noticed Andi coming in.

Much like Josh, Andi had to take a second look before realizing it was Maya talking to her. "Holy fuck girl! That hair though!" Maya smiled at her before she began blending her foundation into her contour. "Happy birthday!" Andi said as she closed herself into a toilet stall.

"Thanks."

"Other than the parts that half the hall heard, what's Josh doing for it?" Andi asked over a flush, coming out to wash her hands a moment later.

Maya blushed. "God. Were we really that loud?"

Andi laughed at her embarrassment. "No, I think I just happened to walk by his door at the right time."

Maya laughed a little at the teasing, knowing it was friendly. "Yeah…. He really likes my new hair cut. I just got it this morning; my mom and dad treated me to a morning at a spa for my birthday and graduation. He wasn't expecting it..."

"Well, I can understand his reaction," Andi winked playfully. "Anyways, you didn't answer me. What're you guys doing?"

"He won't tell me, other than 'concert'. He had my mom pick out a dress to wear. After we ended up missing whatever was planned for the afternoon, we ended up ordering Chinese and bingeing Kimmy Schmidt. All I know about the remaining plans are that there will be music, and we are leaving in about half an hour." Maya answered, moving on to carefully outline then fill in some cat-eye liner, waving her hand at her closed eye to try and get it to dry faster.

Andi stood and chatted with Maya while Maya finished her makeup, offering a pair of false lashes from her own kit when Maya realized she didn't have any with her. As they walked down the hall to Andi's room, they passed a damp Josh, fresh out of the shower, clutching a towel around his hips, on his way back to his room.

"Damn…" Andi drawled, raking her eyes up and down his torso. "Girl. I can see what all that noise was about!"

Maya smirked at him as he tried to fight down the faint blush spreading over his chest, and kept pulling Andi down the hall to get her lashes to finish Maya's makeup. Several minutes later, Maya was walking back into Josh's room, look now complete with thick lashes, a perfect cat's eye, and bright red lips. Josh was dressed in black skinny jeans, a white tee, and a red and black plaid shirt.

As he stepped forward, reaching for her, she put a hand up to his chest and said, "No! I am not re-doing half my makeup before we leave." He pouted and she knew she had correctly guessed his intention to start kissing her again.

Maya moved toward her bag and took out the dress her mother had selected from her closet, and the heels she had grabbed to go with it, before stripping out of the yoga pants, top, and her bra. The dress was off the shoulder, and she had yet to replace her too-small strapless bra, so she couldn't wear one. Before she can get her dress over her head, Josh is running his hands up her sides from behind her, and planting little kisses down one side of her neck. "Sweetie, we don't have time for this," Maya protested even as she leaned back into him.

Josh's hands slip around to her stomach as he nuzzles her ear. "We could…"

"No, I may not know what concert it is, but I do know that you probably spent a lot on the tickets, and we are NOT skipping it. We have all night after we get back."

Josh gave an overly-dramatic, slightly Cory-esque, sigh before laying a final kiss on Maya's shoulder and saying "OK, fiiiinnne…." as he pulled back and went to sit on his bed to pull on a pair of Doc Martens.

With a quick thought, Maya grabbed her anti-perspirant and spread some on her thighs so she didn't rub her legs raw in a crowd where she would probably be hot and sweaty fairly quickly. That done, she threw on the grey-silver dress. It was a light stretch-jersey body-con that went down to her mid-thigh, with long sleeves that loosened at the elbow and hung slightly over her hands. The neckline was a straight line a bit below her clavicle before wrapping around the outside of her shoulders and cutting another straight line across her shoulder blades.

She contemplated the 2 shoe options she had brought and decided on the black, heeled, ankle boots. The heel was higher than she'd usually be comfortable with at a concert, but the other, lower, heels she'd brought were open-toed, and she definitely knew better than that. She'd just have to hang all over her boyfriend to avoid anyone knocking her over in the crowd. Oh darn. As she sits in Josh's desk chair to put them on, she says, "I don't really want to take my purse, do you mind carrying my phone and a couple cards?" He said that was fine, and she continued, "How far are we going? I don't really want to lug around a coat either, so I am totally down for paying for a cab there and back if it's more than a couple blocks of outside-walking."

Josh put down his own coat that he'd been about to don. "It's the same club you took me to for the Peppers last year." He collected the things from his coat pockets he'd need and re-homed them into his jeans' pockets, also taking her ID, Metro, and Debit cards as she took them out of her wallet and putting them in a front pocket that her phone would also go in once they were at the venue. He knew he'd be on Picture Duty once she found out who they were seeing, as she'd be far too excited to be bothered with documenting anything. He also knew she hadn't taken a selfie with her new hair yet, probably wanting to reveal it in photos where she's all done up and out having fun.

They were soon heading downstairs to meet the taxi Maya had ordered from an app she had on her phone for exactly these types of situations. She rarely used it, but there were times that she couldn't or didn't want to take the subway for some reason or another.

As they approached the club, Josh distracted her so she didn't see the marquee driving up, even going as far as to stand between her and it as he helped her up out of the car, making sure his camera was up and ready to film before moving so she looked up from leaving their driver a tip in the app. As such, he got a great clip of her eyes going wide and her nearly flinging her phone as she started frantically squealing and doing a little foot-tappy-arms-flailing thing to express her excitement.

As she turned to launch at him in a hug, he caught her and panned the phone's camera to see the lit up "MELANIE MARTINEZ OPENING FOR DNCE TONIGHT 9 PM" before flipping it to show her trying to squeeze him in half while he smiled down at her. Ending the recording, he reached behind himself to get the phone out of her hand and finish leaving the tip for their driver, before pocketing both their phones and pulling tickets out and leading her up to the front of the line, just as she had done for him last year. She remained clinging to his middle as she walked sideways in the direction he led them, all the way inside the club and to the backstage area to wait for the meet & greet/photo op before final soundcheck, which they'd be watching from the reserved area right in front of the stage.

They were nearish to the front of the line once things kicked off, and Josh made sure to announce that it was her birthday the moment it was their turn, and telling the photographer that she could have his frames before stepping off to the side to get video and snaps of the mini photo shoot. With the announcement, all of the musicians had said happy birthday and asked a couple questions as she was passed between them for hugs, then went out of their way to get the most fun photos possible in the couple minutes allotted. Josh tried his best to focus on how much fun she was having instead of getting upset at watching several hot, famous, rich guys (and girls) hug, pick up, and plant kisses on her cheeks. As a staffer called time, she got a couple more hugs on her way over to Josh as the next person came in.

Maya was beaming, and he swore she was flushed, but couldn't really tell between the relatively low lighting outside of the photo shoot area and her makeup. As Josh pocketed his phone until the actual show (gotta save that battery all night), she stopped in front of him, flung her arms around his neck and leaned up to kiss him. Josh pulled back after a moment, aware that they were still close to the crowd, and suggested they grab stage-front spots out in the club. On their way out of the room, they each grabbed a few of the bottles of water that had been provided for the VIP ticket holders to stay hydrated through the show.

Once all the VIPs had gotten pictures, soundcheck went pretty fast, with the road crew (a well-oiled machine near the end of the tour) knowing how each musician liked things set up. A few small adjustments, then general admission started. The club was pretty big, holding 5,000 or so people between the all-ages GA downstairs, and an upstairs bar area jutting out over one side of the building, under which there were ropes set up to form lines to access merch tables and bathrooms. Maya and Josh spent the time chatting with each other as well as those around them. Maya got several more 'happy birthday's, and numerous photos were taken, this time on Maya's phone. Josh had to check himself several times to stop getting annoyed at all the attention directed at Maya. He couldn't blame them, she was beautiful and charming, and they all had an instant thing to bond over, obviously being big fans of the musicians they were all here to see. He just got a slightly sour feeling every time friendly chatter turned into more flirty talk.

As the show got underway, it got easier. All of the group, Josh included, was more focused on singing and dancing along to the music, and generally having fun and occasionally pausing to get pictures of either the acts or themselves stage-front.

It was a few hours later, near the end of DNCE's set, that the next surprise hit. Between songs, Joe Jonas announced that there was going to be a very special guest onstage for the next song, and everyone went nuts. Maya and Josh were both surprised when he proceeded to walk over and motion her up to the stage. Josh dropped down and hoisted her up so she was sitting on his shoulder, then carefully stood so she could step up onto the stage.

"Now, everybody, this is Maya, and today is her birthday." The audience roared. "Now, I happen to know that her favorite song is Body Moves, so I'm hoping she'll be willing to help me out with singing it." Maya nodded an enthusiastic yes, and someone ran out with an extra mic, handing it to her, and quickly clipping the pack to the back of her dress.

Unrehearsed, it was a little clumsy as they sang, but no one seemed to mind, and Joe danced with her throughout. At the end, Maya got a raucous round of applause, and Josh carefully helped her back down, trying to hide the funk he was now officially in, focusing on the fact that she was getting a fantastic birthday and trying not to dwell on watching her dance onstage with another guy.

The show eventually ended, and they were shown to the same backstage room again, where they picked up their swag bags and went through a final line to get things autographed.

In another car on the way back to the dorm, Josh moves copies of all the photos and video he's taken that night into a dropbox for her to download and go through. She takes selfies of them with their swag. Then, as they connect to the dorm wifi walking in, their notifications start blowing up. Evidently, a number of her classmates, along with a couple people that recognized her as halfway-living in Josh's dorm, had been at the show. Each of them had posted their own video of her onstage, tagging either her or Josh depending on how they knew her. Tags that stated where they were had other people that were there, as well as many who weren't, commenting, and both of them ended up with a number of new follows, though she had significantly more than him.

With a yawn, Maya realized that she could finally take off her shoes, and set her phone down to do so. She groaned aloud as they came off, grabbing Josh's attention. As her dress came off as well, her tossed her the flannel he'd just taken off and waited for her to secure most of the buttons before also handing her the second toiletry bag that now lived on his dresser, which contained her own items. She pulled him in for a quick kiss before turning to go to the ladies room to wash her face and brush her teeth.

By the time Maya got back, Josh had completed his own nightly ablutions and was sitting sideways on his bed in his boxers. Both their phones had been silenced and put on the charging pad on his nightstand. "You're meeting your sisters for brunch at 10, right? I set the alarm for 9." Josh said, motioning her down onto the bed so her feet were in his lap.

Maya confirmed that and snatched up her phone, taking a final pic for the night and posting it. The photo showed her legs, the tops of her thighs covered by Josh's shirt, extending down into Josh's lap. Josh had both his hands wrapped around one of her feet, massaging it, and was smiling up at her. "Will go through other pics to post in the morning. This is the most important birthday photo I have. What did I ever do to deserve a boyfriend as amazing as joshie_mcboingboing ? #bestboyfriendever #dnceingmybdayaway #footrubandsnugglesftw"

9:30 the next morning found Maya and Josh walking to meet her sisters, bio-father, and step-mother for brunch. She had woken up to find a text from Rachel inviting Josh to join them for the meal, citing that the girls were curious about him after only meeting him a few times in passing over the last year as he dropped off or picked up Maya. Maya suspected that it was more likely that Kermit and Rachel wanted to meet him and get to know him a little in case he ended up being a fixture in Nikki and Cassie's lives by way of Maya.

For her part, Maya was glad either way. After the first few initial meetings, Kermit and Rachel had made a point to drop the girls off with Maya at the table she had selected, then remove themselves to either the other side of the restaurant or a nearby coffee shop so that the sisters could spend time together without the awkwardness lingering between Maya and the parents. Since then, Maya has hardly spoken to Kermit, usually going to Rachel to coordinate things. But, this being Maya's birthday brunch, it was going to be a "family" thing, and Maya would be grateful for Josh's presence, both for the comfort and distraction.

Josh didn't dare to voice his opinion that Kermit wants to meet Josh because he's Maya's boyfriend, and wants to get to know him a bit just for the sake of that.

Things go as well as one can really expect. Rachel and the girls ask questions, Josh and/or Maya answer them, Josh frequently asking his own questions in return. Maya ignores Kermit. Kermit sits mostly quiet, eating his club sandwich, drinking coffee, learning about his oldest daughter, who hates him.

At the end of the meal, Rachel is paying the bill while Maya, Cassie, and Nikki are having a group hug. Off to the side, Josh is shaking Kermit's hand, and Kermit quietly says, "Thank you for taking care of her."

Josh nods his reply and they separate as Cassie throws herself at Josh for a hug. He responds to it the same way he does Auggie, picking her up for a bear hug, then spinning her around to sit on his shoulders for a moment while she giggles. As he sets Cassie down, Nikki comes over to give him a much more sedate hug around the waist, and say that he should come with Maya to hang out with them sometimes. He agrees, before thanking Rachel for the meal and slinging his arm over Maya's shoulders.

It's nearly 3 weeks later when Kermit finds himself sitting alone in a booth at a quiet cafe in Greenwich Village. Nikki has a class ski trip in Vermont all weekend and Rachel is along as a chaperone. He just dropped Cassie off at a friends house for a sleepover, and had decided that a diner burger sounded better that whatever he would russle up to eat at home. He has just finished ordering and picked up his glass of coke when the door of the diner opens to admit a laughing family of 3. Me immediately recognizes her laugh after more than a decade. The group takes no notice of anyone as they settle themselves at the counter. Kermit scoots a bit further towards the wall to be even less noticeable.

The group settles in with Maya in between Katy and this unknown man who looks to be around Kermit's age. He sees a ring on Katy's left hand as she reaches back to adjust her hair, which is pulled up in a ponytail. Kermit is shocked, but can't quite figure out why. Of course Katy would have moved on by now. It's been 12 years, after all.

They're immediately recognizable as regulars at the place, when 3 cups of coffee are set down along with glasses of water, none of which have been ordered, and they put in their food order without menus being handed to them. There's only a few other people in the diner, it being after the dinner rush, but still well before people started streaming in between bars/clubs and home for greasy all-night breakfast to try and stave off hangovers. Kermit tries not to stare at them, listening as they playfully razz each other over what each uses to doctor their coffee. He knows Maya takes hers black and plain, and she puts on a very affected Schwarzenegger-esque voice, calling her mother and step-father weaklings as they add milk and sugar.

Kermit is slowly munching his way through a few fries, and they have just gotten their food, when he hears it. The thing that makes the final little speck of hope he has for a relationship with Maya die.

Maya has loaded a forkful of her tuna melt into her mouth, and lets out a moan at how good she finds it. The step-father is spreading condiments onto his burger, and says, "Y'know, I used to find it cute that food makes you that happy, but that noise around a mouthful of food is significantly less funny now that you spend several nights a week in Josh's dorm room."

Katy let out a mix of groan and chuckle as she bit into a fry. Maya swallowed the bite and dropped her head into her hands as she said "OH MY GOD. DAD. WHY."

The man laughs. Kermit feels that tiny little spark go out, and the thought of finishing his food is inconceivable. He flags down the waitress, quietly asking for a to-go box and his check. Both are set on his table in short order, and he quickly loads the box before dropping enough cash for the bill and a generous tip down, and calmly standing to put his coat on to make his way out. With probably the worst timing he could imagine, Maya turned to grab something from the pocket of her coat, which is hanging on the back of her chair, just as Kermit gets his coat settled on his shoulders. Eye contact is made, and Kermit tries to smile, but it comes out as a grimace. Maya's expression is inscrutable as she blinks, purses her lips slightly, and turns back around, phone now in hand. She goes back to the conversation as though nothing had happened, flipping through photos to try and find a particular one to show Katy and…. her dad.

Kermit can't blame her. He had done basically the same thing to her a few years ago, when he got her letter for her forgiveness project thing at school, and she found out that he had left her and her mother for a new wife and daughter.

He feels the sledgehammer-sting of replacement all the way home, and is fighting back tears right up until the moment he collapses down on the couch, only to look right at a framed photo of all 3 of his daughters this past Halloween, smiling out at him from it's place on an end table. It's the thought that he had made one of his little girls feel like this for most of her life that breaks him. He hasn't cried like this since his father died when Kermit was 14.

Back at the diner, Maya is putting on a good enough front to fool her mother, but, as Katy gets up to use the ladies room, Shawn rubs a hand gently across Maya's back and asks, "What's up, kiddo? You ok?"

Maya wasn't surprised that he had seen through her cheery act. She does her best to give a reassuring smile. "Yeah, it just kinda suddenly hit me that I'm really tired." She can tell Shawn doesn't completely buy that, but lets it drop, trusting that he'll find out eventually if it is important enough.

Valentine's Day is on a Wednesday that year, and Maya is glad. Working in 2 restaurants now, it's significantly easier to coordinate a Wed night/Thurs morning off than it would've been on the weekend, and her longtime coworkers at the diner are happy to cover a good-tipping holiday dinner shift for her, particularly after the number of times she has taken on extra shifts so they can be with their families over big holidays.

Shawn and Katy are on a romantic getaway to the Florida Keys from that morning to midday Sunday, and Maya has planned on taking advantage of that. Josh had gone a similar route as last year with her birthday, but she had had trouble finding something that would be comparable, so she went a different direction for his birthday.

First of all, it was on his actual birthday, instead of a bracketing weekend. The family party would be the following Saturday, and she was scheduled to work.

Next, she had painstakingly researched the cuisine of Morocco. It was one of his favorites, from having a friend in elementary school whose parents were immigrants from Morocco, and it being some of the first international cuisine he had experienced. She even went as far as messaging that friend on Facebook, introducing herself before asking if he or his mother remembered if Josh had any particular favorites and for any tips they'd be willing to offer an American girl making Moroccan food for the first time. 2 days later, she had an email from the mother with some cute stories about Baby Josh, a few photos from when he had been at their house, 4 recipes, and several tips on how Maya could make it taste and look authentic with modern American cookware, as well as general suggestions about what type of stores to look in and where for specialty ingredients.

She had tracked down all of the ingredients fairly easily, glad to live in the Melting Pot known as New York City. In one halal store, the shopkeeper, a tiny, older woman, asked what she was making, and Maya explained the situation. The woman had shown her to the various things Maya was after, then led her over to a small selection of cookware in a back corner, and pointing out a few tangines. As a delighted Maya picked out one medium and 2 small ones, the woman explained how to season them, and handed Maya 2 aluminum diffusers as well, explaining how to use them on the stovetop without to keep from cracking the tangine by direct exposure to the heat source.

Maya had made sure to get enough food for at least 2 trial runs, both of which she served to her mother and Shawn for feedback. Well, Shawn mostly, since he was the one that had actually been to Morocco before. Satisfied she could make a satisfactory showing, Maya did a final food shop on Tuesday between her morning shift at the bakery/restaurant she'd been working at for just shy of a month and her dinner shift at the diner where she'd been working for nearly 2 years.

Maya ducked into a couple other stores for various items along the way, pausing briefly and chewing her lip in consideration before walking into the drugstore. Despite Josh loosening up and going further with physical stuff, they had yet to go all the way. She wasn't sure if tonight would be the night or not, but she reasoned that she'd rather be prepared and not needing than possibly caught unaware and doing something they could both end up regretting.

By the time she was done, Maya didn't have time to go home and drop bags off, so she explained to Drew, the evening manager, briefly what was going on, and he laughed before telling her it was fine and helping her stow her bags in the back office and clearly labelling the refrigerated items before setting them on a small section of shelf in the walk-in that was reserved for staff food and drinks anyway.

Midday the following day, she loaded her parents into a taxi to the airport and got to work. She preheated the oven to warm and began mixing and kneading the dough for some anise and sesame sweet bread rolls, pulling them into portions and placing them on a cookie sheet, which went onto the top rack of the low-temp oven, a casserole dish with hot water in it on the lower rack, for them to rise. She then moves to dice up several pieces of chicken, both dark and light meat, leaving them in a bowl. This complete, she carefully mixes some spices and works the blend evenly through the bowl of chicken and leaves it to marinate.

Not needing to start anything else just yet, Maya washes her hands and sets a timer to check on the rolls, then gets to work decorating. The 2 armchairs in the living room were pushed into her parents room to open up some more floor space, and, after a thorough job of vacuuming, the coffee table is moved to the middle of the small living room and covered with a pretty, saffron-colored cloth that has delicate goldenrod embroidery. Large jewel-toned square pillows were arranged around the table for sitting on. She knows it isn't exactly accurate to the culture, but she and her parents don't have a dinner table, so she's improvising to make it a little more romantic than sitting at the breakfast bar where they usually eat.

The timer goes off and she checks her rolls to find they have risen sufficiently. She leaves the baking sheet in the oven, but removes the dish of water, and adjusts the temperature on the oven up. A little belatedly, she remembers to brush some olive oil onto the rolls so the brown correctly. Setting another timer, Maya finishes the decoration with jewel-tone scarves covering the few lamps in the living room and setting them on low, before setting out a couple teardrop-shaped brass lamps with beautiful designs cut into them on either end of the table. She had been in a thrift store looking for the big sitting pillows when she had run across the lamps and immediately recognized the style from her research about food. She set 2 plain, unscented votive candles out as well, to be lit and put in the lamps closer to when Josh would get here.

Moving back to the kitchen, she began getting the chicken bastille together, frying some chopped almonds quickly before grinding them up in the food processor and working them in with some powdered sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter, and setting the mix to the side. Maya cheated a little, not having perfected pastry dough yet, and used the refrigerated, store bought kind to line the bottom of the medium tangine, before using a regular pan to cook the marinated chicken with some onions. That done, she used the same pan to scramble eggs with more onion and cilantro, before layering eggs and chicken into the pastry-lined tangine, and folded the corners of the pastry dough over the top, and brushing it with egg.

The timer for the rolls beeped again and she checked them, happy to see them looking close to perfect. Maya pulled them out to cool, and placed the bastille directly into the oven, thinking her timing should be fine. It was 4:30, and he would be getting out of his last class of the day soon, before heading over.

That in mind, she quickly went through the motions of largely dicing root vegetables, before layering them strategically into the small tangines, adding oil, water, and spices, and setting them on the diffusers on the stove, before setting up the stove top rice-cooker and beginning the process of steaming couscous. Maya had just finished cleaning up everything she was done with and set out everything she would need to make the sweet mint tea when a notification popped up from Insta.

It was a picture of Josh waiting for the subway, captioned "Off to see what openhartsurgery has planned for my birthday this year! #birthdayboy #valentinesbaby #curious"

Maya hurried into her bedroom to change from her sweats and tank into a cotton tunic-dress that was pretty while still being plenty casual for hanging out at home for the evening. She made sure her hair wasn't a disaster, but didn't bother with makeup, having long ago figured out that -though he thought she was beautiful regardless, and liked when she went to the effort of makeup- his favorite look on her was natural. Not that he would ever say anything. There was a certain look he gave her when she was fresh-faced that gave her butterflies, that just wasn't the same when she was done up.

She had just lit the candles and set the lamps over them when there was a knock at the door. Maya answered it with a cheery "Happy birthday!" and greeted him with a kiss as he walked in, before closing the door. He had his backpack with him, as she had told him to plan to stay since her folks were out of town, and he had it hanging halfway off his shoulder as he looked around at the living room in slight puzzlement. She managed to get a photo of the exact moment he caught the scents coming from the kitchen and realized what the setup was about.

With a massive smile, Josh's bag hit the couch, and he gathered Maya up in his arms for a much longer kiss. Eventually, she remembered that food was still cooking and pulled back. "I still need to finish dinner. Throw your stuff in my room and get comfy, it should be ready soon." True to her word, by the time he had set his bag by the small desk in her room, taken off his shoes and coat, and washed up for dinner, the table was set with plates, silverware, cups, a jug of water, a basket of rolls, and a dish of couscous. Maya was coming out of the kitchen with 2 tangines of veggies, and set those down before going back for another, larger tangine with what he recognized as the bastille that he had loved as a child, with it's savory and spicy filling and the sweet almond crumble on top.

"Need me to help with anything?" Josh asks as the bastille is set down.

Maya does a mental check before responding, "Nope, this is everything!" and hitting the switch to turn off the overhead lights in the kitchen and living room, leaving them in the soft colored light of the scarf-draped lamps and the gentle flickering of the brass candle-lamps on the table.

Josh catches her in his arms as she moves to sit down at the table. With a soft, sweet kiss, he rests his forehead against hers and keeps eye contact, whispering an 'I love you' that she returns. Both of them sit down, across from each other, and he takes a photo of the table and her before they start serving themselves up, smiling.

As they eat, he tells her about his day, and she shares the story of learning to cook for tonight. She relates one of the stories his friend's mother had shared of him in elementary school, and he laughs along with her, having not thought about that for years. He tells her an anecdote about one of his more eccentric professors suddenly deciding in the middle of a lecture about gothic architecture that the feng shui of the room was wrong and having the class help him rearrange, before he sat them in what he deemed the "harmonic" order he wanted, by which point the time period for the lecture was up.

When they were done, he helped take dishes and leftovers into the kitchen. After the leftovers were stowed in containers in the fridge, and rolls in a ziplock bag, Maya wouldn't let him help with dishes, pointing out that most of it would be going straight into the dishwasher anyway, and the tangines only got wiped out with a damp cloth. That task complete, she set about making tea. She wasn't practiced enough for the showier bits of the tea ceremony, but walked through the basics just fine, washing the pot with boiling water, then quickly washing the green tea leaves and rinsing two glass mugs with the hot water and serving the first round of a small portion of strong green tea, before adding a massive handful of fresh spearmint leaves and filling the pot with more water to let it steep. She picked up her mug and the tea pot, motioning for him to grab his mug and follow her back out to the living room.

Instead of sitting on the couch, they rearranged pillows in front of it to cuddle up on and used the couch as a back rest.

"So, what inspired this, anyway?" Josh asked curiously. He wasn't at all disappointed, it was just very different than the grand outing he'd been expecting.

"Well, I couldn't find anything cool enough that worked with both our schedules for a big thing, so I was pulling my hair out trying to figure something out, and my mom pointed out that we are always going out places - movies, running, meals - and that it might be nice to stay in and have a chill night at home. Then when I was trying to figure out food, I remembered you saying a while ago that you couldn't find a Moroccan restaurant that does bastille as good as your friends mom, so, I figured I would give it a try. I know I probably didn't do quite as well as she did, but it's at least her recipe…."

Josh cupped her cheek and gently turned her head up to meet his eyes. "You did amazing, gorgeous. "

Maya smiled and kissed him quickly before refilling their tea. Josh took the opportunity to get a cute selfie of them cuddled up together, clutching steaming mug of the sweet mint tea. He posted it along with the photo of the spread and her across the table. " openhartsurgery learned how to make my favorite Moroccan dishes for a relaxing birthday in. I'm the luckiest guy. #amazinggirlfriend #happybirthdaytome #chickenbastille #sweetminttea"

At the end of the pot of tea, it was mutually decided that they didn't want to watch anything, and Maya got up briefly to put on some quiet music and grab her sketchbook as he stretched out.

When she sits back down, he lays his head in her lap and closes his eyes, just relaxing and enjoying her company like at the cabin last summer. They remain in this position for a couple hours, her sketching and him dozing, them periodically talking about whatever popped into their heads. Around 9, Maya suggests they get ready for bed. It's early, but he has classes tomorrow, and she anticipates them not actually getting to sleep for awhile once they are in bed.

The next morning, Josh awakes to something significantly more pleasant than an alarm, and he ends up running late for class that day.

At the end of April, Maya has heard back from most of the colleges, grants, and scholarships she had applied for in the fall. She had pro/con lists for every school, along with a pie chart detailing finances for each, and a massive chart detailing benefits and programs of each for side-by-side comparison. Yet, she was nowhere near making a decision.

She had been accepted into enough schools here in the city to at least eliminate the handful of schools she had applied to that were elsewhere, but that still left NYU, The Art Institute, The New School, Cooper, Pratt, The Fashion Institute, Vassar, Sotheby's…..

She couldn't deny the effects of great SAT scores on her grant and scholarship options, but it had also ensured that she was facing a very tough choice in schools.

In the middle of May, seeing no other options, Maya packed up her laptop with all the charts and lists saved for easy access, and headed to the one person that would tell her what she needed to hear to make a decision. Being 7 pm on a Tuesday, she walked into the Matthews home in her usual manner. Auggie and Riley were both at the kitchen table doing homework after dinner, and Cory was grading papers on the couch, so, without bothering to greet anyone, Maya walked straight into the home office, shutting the door behind herself and grabbing the spare chair, which got moved over to the desk. As soon as she plopped down in it, she pulled out her laptop, opened the array of colorful charts back up, and set the laptop down next to Topanga's.

"How do I decide?!" Maya demands in a panicking tone. She has sorted, sifted, and filtered all of the information for the last few weeks until her eyeballs were swimming with it, but she was no closer to a decision.

Topanga didn't answer right away, saving her own work quickly, then shifting to click through the mass amount of summarized data that Maya had compiled, finally getting the the comparison chart and examining it carefully. "So, you obviously applied for art programs, but there's a pretty wide range of what _kind_ of art programs on here."

"I'm not entirely sure what exactly I want to do."

"Well… " Topanga says slowly, turning to look at Maya for the first time since she came in. "If I had this many options but wasn't sure what I wanted to do, specifically, I would probably figure out which option would have the most flexibility to change programs in case I end up not liking the one I go into."

Maya immediately felt a weight lift. It hadn't occurred to her that she didn't have to fully commit to a single area of study for the next 4 years. She leans forward to hug Topanga, saying a quiet 'thanks' before packing her laptop back into her messenger bag and heading back out the same way she came in, reminding herself to spend time over there on her next evening off.

She settled into an overstuffed, faux-leather chair in a quiet coffee shop she had found several weeks ago but hadn't had a chance to spend time in. She ordered a large latte from the waitress that stopped next to her, and pulled out her laptop, which still had the comparison chart up. Maya added a line for "flexibility in changing courses" and, with a thought, another one for "other courses I am interested in?" and started combing through websites.

45 minutes later, she's on her second latte and only about halfway through her research when she hears a familiar voice say "Maya?"

She looks up to find Farkle standing in front of the chair next to hers, separated only by a small table to set drinks on. "Hey, Farkle. Been a long time."

"Yeah." he says, then gestures at the empty chair, "Do you mind if I…"

"Go for it." she takes a moment to look at him. He's taller, but not by a ton, and he has lost some of the babyishness in his face. He's wearing his hair shorter, which she thinks also helps him look a little older. "You look good. How have you been?" she asks once he's seated.

"Thanks… I've been… alright…" Farkle says very awkwardly, not looking at her. She's immediately worried.

"Farkle, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he replies too calmly.

"Please, Farkle. It's ME. Maya. We've known each other since the first grade. _What's wrong_?"

Farkle lets out a big sigh and she puts her laptop down on the low coffee table in front of them so her attention isn't split. Farkle turns towards her, but doesn't look up from his hands. "Riley brought it to my attention several months ago that we had failed you as friends. It took me awhile to process everything that had happened, and by the time I was ready to approach you to apologize, I found out that you had graduated and I was too late to get us all back together, then there were more emotions to process about you graduating so early, and some jealousy to work through…."

Maya reached over the arms of their chairs to put her hand over his. "It's ok, Farkle. I forgive you. "

"Just like that?" his head lifts to finally meet her eye in surprise.

Maya smiles. "Farkle, I forgave all of you a long time ago. Life happens, and sometimes it causes good friends to drift apart. It's the fact that we eventually drift back towards each other that is the important thing. I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Riley: I have missed you, and parts of it definitely sucked, but there are so many good things that have come out of this that I can't regret my experiences. And we can't go back to what we were, but we can definitely move forward and rebuild our friendship."

Farkle looked like he was about to cry with relief, and was only stopped by the waitress asking if he's ready to order. Once he has his hot chocolate, they sit and catch up until the place closes at 9, and they part ways with a long hug and confirmation that phone numbers haven't changed, promising to text.

A/N: Sorry, guys, I don't like doing these, but I wanted to ask if anyone would be interested in reading the M rated version of this?


	6. Chapter 6

Josh could tell Maya had something on her mind. She'd been out of it at dinner at his brother's house, obviously deep in thought as she had to ask people to repeat themselves multiple times when they tried to draw her into the conversation. She didn't seem upset, just…. Preoccupied. Now, they were in his bed, and she was slowly tracing something across the skin of his chest.

He reaches up to move some hair off her face before gently cupping her cheek, running his thumb back and forth a few times to pull her out of her thoughts before speaking. "What's going on up here, beautiful?" he asks, softly tapping his fingers on her head.

She began chewing her bottom lip, which he'd come to recognize as a sign of anxiety. After a minute, she blurted out, "What's your monthly housing budget?" in a way that sounded like she was trying to get the words out before she could stop herself.

Josh was a little surprised. She had decided on NYU to start school in the fall, and she had disclosed that, between the partial scholarship offered by the school, and all the others she had applied for, she was set financially for a 4-year degree, as long as she was smart about spending. Was she worried about living in the dorms and considering staying at home?

Josh tried to think back to the last payment that had gone to housing and divided to roughly by 3, quoting her the approximate monthly figure. "Are you worried about the cost of living in the dorms? I thought you had your budget figured out with that included?"

"I do…." Maya replied slowly, before shifting off him to prop herself up on her arms to look at him. "But… I was on the student forums, cruising around for general tips about professors and stuff, and came across a link for a building nearby that caters to couples who are in college but can't share a school dorm…. " as she trailed off, dropping her eyes down to her hands, which are now tightly twisted together, and going back to chewing on her lip.

Josh took a moment to process what she was saying before breaking out in a grin. "Are you asking me to move in with you next year?"

Maya glances quickly up at his face and is obviously relieved that he isn't automatically rejecting the idea. "Well, since I'm not 18 yet, I can't be the main signer on the lease, so technically, I am suggesting you get a studio apartment next year and let me live with you." Before he can reply, she goes into what he can only describe as a sales pitch. "They aren't much bigger than a double dorm room, but there's a kitchenette and we would only be sharing a bathroom with each other. No roommates or parents to work around, no RAs to answer to-"

Josh cuts her off by kissing her. As he pulls back, he says, "I would LOVE to live with you next year."

The were touring the building the very next day. Josh had a final in the morning, while Maya had a shift at the bakery, but they had met there afterwards to look around. The building was nothing spectacular, about the same size as his current dorm building, but it was divided instead into apartments of various size, catering (as Maya had said the night before) to students wanting to live off-campus for various and sundry reasons. They were currently pre-leasing for fall. The apartments varied in size from studio to 3 bedrooms, but Maya indicated to the property manager that it would be a studio that fit their combined budget, and they were taken into one to look at. It was, indeed, not too much bigger than his current room, the general space being about the size of Cory's living room. One side had sliding closet doors covering half the wall, the property manager explaining that the next unit over had their closet in the other half of the wall. The opposite side of the apartment was evenly split between a bathroom that was approximately the size of a postage stamp which contained a shower stall, toilet, and pedestal sink, and a kitchenette that consisted of a sink, a half-size refrigerator under the counter, a 2-burner electric stove set into the counter next to the sink, and a 2-door cabinet above it all. The outside wall had big windows, letting in natural light and making the space feel less cramped.

Josh and Maya's eyes met, and he turned, smiling, to the property manager. "So, what's the next step?"

After giving some information, the manager called the NYU registrar's office, quickly confirming that they would both be students there the following academic year, and that Josh was in good standing with Student Housing. After that was a credit check for each of them which turned up no history ("That's pretty normal for college students, we just have to check as a formality"). Maya handed over her debit card to cover the holding fee until she could get a cashier's check from the separate bank account she had created for grant and scholarship funds for the full deposit there the next day, and they got to select which unit they wanted from a list of what was available. They ended up deciding on a 3rd-floor one overlooking the street rather than the alley on the other side, setting a date near the end of August to pick up their keys and move in.

Josh made a mental note to take as many shifts as he could this summer to pay her back half the deposit.

Per usual, Cory was the only person really bothered by the development.

Katy (and everyone else, really) shrugged it off fairly quickly saying that she had expected them to spend most nights together once they lived in the same building anyway, and at least this way they would have privacy and not be risking contracting a foot fungus every time they got in the shower.

A week later, Josh was packed up and on his way back to Philly, unaware that Maya was interviewing for a third job, determined to make their little hole in the wall home come August.

Throughout the summer, various people donated various items toward their apartment, and they kept a shared document with a running list of what they had and would need, as well as who would be bringing or buying it. Josh's parents bought them a small, free-standing kitchen island, largely to house the compact toaster oven Mr. Feeny brought over after joining them for dinner and hearing about their needs. He had apparently been gifted it a few years previously by someone and had never used it, so it was brand new.

Josh's siblings had been planning on all going in on something for the couple, and after Maya made a quick run around a used furniture store between shifts and sent him some photos, they agreed on it being a comfortable, over-stuffed, black linen loveseat and armchair set that was on clearance. Maya's Gammy had sent some money to get something as well, which had helped buy a small, square table and chair set Maya had spotted at Goodwill, which would be pulling double duty as a dinner table and a desk. They would be using Maya's bed and dresser from home, supplemented with hanging basket organizers in the closet.

Between Cory, Topanga, Shawn, Josh, and Maya, Josh's Jeep and the UHaul van Shawn had rented were unloaded in fairly short order. Cory and Shawn left to return the UHaul, and Topanga stayed to help get them unpacked. It was at this point that Josh found out that Maya had gotten a third job for the summer. Josh didn't say anything with Topanga still there, but Maya knew that this might be their first real fight as soon as they were alone.

When Cory and Shawn showed back up, they came bearing basic cleaning supplies and staple food items, as well a a pizza for the group to share for dinner. The meal was spent with the adultier adults telling stories of their own first apartment, which they had shared in college.

When they were finally alone and breaking down boxes to be stored until June, Josh said, "I'm mad that you got a third job, overworked yourself, and didn't tell me, but I don't want the first thing we do in our new apartment, after not seeing each other for almost 3 months, to be a fight."

"Is it a fight if I explain my reasons and we talk about it?" Josh shook his head and settled down sideways on the loveseat, and she sat on the other side facing him. "It wasn't just the money. That was a factor, but, mostly… I didn't want to give myself time to miss you too much. If I was constantly busy, and completely exhausted most of the time, then it was a little easier to fall asleep without you there."

Josh immediately felt like a bit of an ass, thinking about how many nights he hadn't slept well this summer, no longer accustomed to sleeping alone every night, used to her being draped over his chest or tightly spooned into him. He hadn't even considered that she may be having the same problem. He sighed. "I'm sorry for not considering that as a factor. I should have, given the fact that I had trouble sleeping without you, too." He grabs her hands, rubbing them briefly. "I just get so worried about you burning out. You are so used to round the clock work, and you put 100% into everything. I just want to make sure you also slow down and enjoy everything you're working for."

Maya smiled at him, before turning them both so she can snuggle under his arm and into his side. "Well, no more worries about that. Not for awhile at least. I am taking at least my first quarter off from working. I mean, I may pick up an occasional shift at Topanga's if mom's desperate, but I am technically unemployed as of now. I want to make sure I can handle my school workload before adding a job too."

"I wish you had just told me. I get why you didn't, but I need you to know you can talk to me about stuff and you don't have to do it all alone anymore."

It takes several days and furniture reconfigurations, as well as another trip to Goodwill for a small coffee table, before the studio is completely unpacked and arranged in a way that lets them utilize everything fairly easily, and doesn't have them dodging around something every couple steps. They also slowly acquire the other things they need. Some old dishes, silverware, and cookware had been donated by Katy and Topanga, but Maya and Josh, coffee junkies both, had somehow missed making sure they had some variety of coffee-making-device, and other little things.

Classes begin, and Josh starts the part-time, paid internship he has landed for his senior year at a major architecture firm in the city. Maya finds herself settling into a role she never imagined she'd have, much less enjoy - a Susie-homemaker-type. Josh has managed to arrange all of his classes in the morning so he can work in the afternoon. Maya, with a more spread-out schedule and no job, takes to making sure he eats breakfast before he leaves - at the very least sending him out the door holding a bagel with schmear - , and packing him a cold lunch and snacks, as well as a small thermos of coffee. Most nights, she cooks dinner as well, which they mutually make a point to sit down and eat together before they each spread out their homework and immerse themselves. No longer needing the excuse to spend time together, they each pick up their own individual workout times and activities as it suits their schedules.

The Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, Josh was in a bad mood. With the short week, everyone at work was antsy and sniping at each other more than getting anything done, and he had had a big test that morning that he wasn't convinced he had passed. With all of this in addition to how jam-packed the city was for the holiday, he couldn't wait to load Maya into his Jeep and go to Philadelphia for the long weekend. As such, he was less than pleased to walk into his and Maya's little studio and find her sitting on the couch next to some guy, as they reached over each other pointing things out and making notes.

As Josh closed the door behind him, Maya looked up slightly dazedly. "Oh. Hey babe. Is it that late already?" she and the guy both look at their phones, the guy swears and starts packing up the portion of the jumbled mess that is apparently his. Maya starts helping as she distractedly introduces them. "Josh, Brandon, Brandon, Josh."

Josh doesn't even have time to respond before the guy - Brandon - is mumbling a 'nice to meet you' as he dashes out the door, zipping his backpack as he walks.

Josh takes off his coat and sets his own backpack down by the table. "So, who was that?" he's trying not to be snippy, but his bad mood is showing through.

"Brandon." Maya replies simply, still putting papers in order.

"Yeah, that much I understood. Why was he here?" Josh is getting more annoyed by the second.

She finally looks up at Josh, as if she is fighting her way out of a fog of concentration. "Right. Sorry. We got paired together for this big mixed-media project and we only have like 3 weeks to complete it, so we wanted to get started on it asap."

"And the only place you could do that was here?!" Josh's voice is beginning to raise, and Maya responds in kind on autopilot.

"We couldn't find any open focus rooms, and there's a Thanksgiving protest at the student union. So, yeah, this was the next most convenient place! Why does it even matter?!"

Josh begins stuffing his things into the empty half of the open suitcase on the bed. "Oh, good point! Why the hell would I be upset to come home and find my girlfriend cozied up on the couch with some random dude? How ridiculous of me!"

"We were hardly "cozied up" - we were sitting next to each other comparing ideas! And what am I supposed to do, not talk to my project partner?!" Maya moves to pull on shoes as Josh changes for the drive.

Josh shoots back, "You're putting words in my mouth! I just wasn't expecting it! What was I supposed to think, walking in blind to that?!"

"So, basically, what you're saying, is that I need to check with you before I can talk to my classmates about schoolwork. Ok. Cool. Got it."

"That's NOT what I'm saying!" Josh put his coat back on and picked up the now-closed suitcase as Maya opened the door for him, also locking it behind them before they made their way to the underground parking lot where his car is. The walk down is quiet.

The pair descends into an icy silence for the duration of the 3-hour drive, broken only by the music Josh has on in the background. Maya sits on the passenger seat with both arms and legs crossed, hunched in on herself and staring out the window. Josh is on edge and tense as he drives, periodically having to remind himself to unclench his jaw and stretch out his fingers from the white-knuckle grip he has on the steering wheel.

Morgan and her boyfriend (James), and Eric, have beaten them to the family home, but the rest of the New York contingent won't be here until tomorrow evening, so it's only about half the family that they tensely greet as coats and shoes are removed, and they go up to Josh's room to get settled in, and continue their argument at a lower volume than it had been at home. Having had a chance to calm down a bit, they at least manage to figure out that Josh's problem is her being alone with a guy he doesn't know, and Maya's problem is how he reacted mixed with him not trusting her, but then the argument stalls as Josh insists he does trust her, and she points to this afternoon as evidence that he clearly doesn't.

When they finally make it back downstairs, everyone is obviously trying to distract them from the fight they are just as clearly in the middle of. Amy heats up leftovers from dinner when she finds out that they had left New York without eating, and sits them both down at the table, chattering as she putters around the kitchen.

When everyone communally decides it's time for bed around 11, Josh takes a shower, staying in longer than he really needs to, to let the hot water work the tension out of his muscles. He comes out to find Maya shaking a couple pills from the bottle of aspirin that is usually in the hall bathroom. She hates taking medication, over the counter or otherwise, and he realizes that she must have a migraine if she's taking something for it. She only gets them occasionally, but it's hard for her to get through the day when they do hit. She chugs the whole glass of water after them and gets up to refill the glass. Josh catches her around the waist as she tries to duck around him, and he sees the cloudiness of her eyes and belatedly realized that they had been that way when he first got home as well, and he had interpreted it as distraction, when it was actually massive pain.

"I'm sorry for being such an ass. I had a shitty day at school and work, and I took it out on you over something that isn't a huge deal." Josh said in a low tone, knowing her hearing is sensitive.

Maya mustered up a pained smile and replied, "I'm sorry for not warning you that Brandon was coming over. It was last minute, and I just didn't think to text you."

Josh gently kisses her forehead and takes the glass from her hand. "I'll get that, you lay down." he says, turning off the lights to give her eyes some relief, before filling the glass in the bathroom. He sets the glass down on the side table, and crawls into bed with her. She's curled up on her side facing the other side of the bed, so he curls up around her.

After several minutes, Maya quietly says, "I can accept you saying you trust *me*, but there is obviously some kind of bigger trust issue happening. I'm not going to demand you spill your guts right this second, but we are eventually going to have to talk about it."

"I know."

At 7 the next morning, Josh knows Maya is still in pain. Normally, they both shift positions throughout the night as various body parts begin hurting from being in the same position for too long. Maya hadn't moved all night, remaining curled up on her side for the duration. He got out of bed carefully, and put on a tee and sweats before going down to the kitchen to get her some breakfast. His parents are in the kitchen already, drinking their morning coffee and reading the newspaper together. He greets them as he pulls out 2 eggs and a pan to fry them in, and popping a slice of bread in the toaster. Within a few minutes, there was an egg sandwich on a plate and he was washing and putting away the pan, before pouring some orange juice into a cup and taking it all back upstairs to his girlfriend.

Another ten minutes and Josh was back in the kitchen, empty dishes in hand, which were quickly rinsed and loaded in the dishwasher before he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down with his parents.

"Everything alright?" Alan asked.

"Better," Josh replied, between swigs of coffee, "Apparently, it helps to notice when your girlfriend has a head-splitting migraine and decide that the conversation can wait."

Ever the mom, Amy immediately looks worriedly toward the stairs, "Is she ok? Does she need anything?"

Josh shook his head. "I made her eat breakfast and drink some OJ, and take more aspirin with plenty of water. Other than that, best bet is to let her sleep it off."

Eric was the next down, wearing a suit, complete with tie depicting a turkey trying to hide at the circus disguised as a clown. At the bottom of the kitchen stairs he stopped and shouted "HAPPY ALMOST TURKEY DAY FAMILY!" only to be met with a vehement round of SHHHHH-ing from his parents and baby brother. "What, is there a surprise party?" he whisper-shouted, looking around.

Alan told him that Maya had a migraine and was upstairs trying to sleep it off. He had the grace to look bashful at that and dropped into mostly-normal-person mode as grabbed a travel mug from the cabinet and filled it from the coffee pot. "I have to go do senator stuff today with other senator-types. I'm pretty sure I'll be back in time for dinner. When is the horde descending?"

"Topanga said between 5 and 6, so I am planning dinner for 6:30," Amy said, getting up to start preparations for the following day's big meal. With so many people now, she always made whatever she could the day before. It was mostly the baked things that didn't need to be served hot and took more time - rolls, pies, etc. - and preparing things that could sit overnight and just be cooked tomorrow - casseroles, prepped ingredients for other things.

Josh finished his cup of coffee and set it by the now-refilling coffee pot, before washing his hands and joining his mother to help. Being the youngest by a wide margin, he had gotten significantly more 1-on-1 time with his mom than his siblings, and he had figured out pretty young that him helping in the kitchen made her really happy, which is why he's the only brother who can cook anything more complicated than throwing a steak on the grill or scrambling eggs. Well, except Shawn, who had inevitably picked up some cooking skills from traveling the world and wanting to be able to have some of his favorite flavors at home.

Morgan and James made their way down shortly after Eric had left, Morgan dodging around her mom and brother to get them bowls of cereal, not particularly wanting to try and cook around Josh, who was spread out on the counter between the sink and the stove making pie dough, and Amy, who had taken over most of the island to make bread rolls from scratch.

It's lunchtime when Maya groggily makes her way down the stairs. Morgan and James are out to lunch with some friends of Morgan's, and Alan had already scarfed his sandwich before moving downstairs to set up the basement rec room to accommodate Cory and Family, pulling out the sofa bed for Cory and Topanga, and unfolding some thick foam chairs out to be single mattresses for Riley and Auggie, and putting clean sheets, and spare pillows and blankets on everything. Mr. Feeny had graciously offered Shawn and Katy his guest room, so they wouldn't be stuck on the ancient pull-out sofa bed in the main living room. As Maya gets to the bottom of the stairs, Josh abandons his own sandwich and jumps up to hug and check on her, before guiding her to the table, where she got the same treatment from Amy.

Knowing she needs food but will still be nauseous from the aspirin, Josh leaves Maya with his mother and moves around the kitchen, cutting up an apple and some cheese, and pouring her a large glass of water, knowing that coffee would not help until her stomach was settled. He sets it down in front of her with a kiss to her head before sitting down to finish his own food. Amy keeps up a calming stream of chatter about what's going on with everyone today as Maya slowly begins to feel human again. When Amy and Josh get back up to go back to preparing for tomorrow, Maya insists on helping, if only to keep her hands busy, so Amy writes out lists of how much of several ingredients she needs prepared and how, and she and Josh get Maya set up at the table with a cutting board and a couple knives, an array of various vegetables and herbs, a glass measuring cup, and a stack of mixing bowls for her to group things together as indicated on Amy's list.

The radio is turned on, and all 3 work calmly, occasionally singing along with part of a song - or 3 whole songs in a row, in Maya's case - and chatting lightly as things come to mind. Alan, knowing to stay well out of the way by this point, grabs himself a soda from the fridge when he's done downstairs, and retreats to the living room to watch TV until he is summoned for dinner. After awhile, they hear Morgan and James come home, and Morgan pops in briefly to see if they need any help before grabbing drinks and going back to the living room.

Once everything that can be baked has been, Josh switches gears, stealing some veggies from Maya's hoard to go in with the stew-beef Amy had indicated was for dinner that evening, and setting that to cook in a large pot on the back burner. Amy cleans up after all the baking, and starts covering the mixing bowls that Maya is nearly done filling with plastic wrap and labelling what they were for before carefully stacking them in the fridge.

That evening, when the rest of the family showed up, Riley dropped her over-packed suitcase on Cory's foot the moment she saw Maya. "Peaches! What's wrong?" Riley exclaimed over her father's pained yelp, rushing over to the chair that Maya and Josh were sharing, sitting on Josh while completely ignoring him and gently putting her arms around her best friend, petting her hair as Maya told her about the migraine, and that she was just still recovering.

"This would be a much more fun situation if you weren't my niece." Josh stated in a flat voice.

Riley glanced over her shoulder at him and said an offhand "Oh hey Uncle Josh" as if she genuinely hadn't noticed she was in his lap, before promptly ignoring him again to go back to making sure Maya was really ok.

Auggie, bag-free after throwing his minimal wardrobe for the weekend into his father's case, started making the rounds to greet everyone while Eric got up to help take bags down to the rec room. Being on the far side of the room from the door, Auggie got to Josh and Maya last, and didn't hesitate to worm his way up onto Maya and Riley's laps to hug Maya, and fist-bump Josh around the girls, unable to reach him for a hug. Morgan laughed and took the photo op of Josh in a chair really only meant for one, lap stacked with his girlfriend, his niece, AND his nephew, face in a deadpan look of acceptance of being largely ignored, despite it being his lap they were occupying.

When everyone was seated as comfortably as they could be around the cramped living room after dinner, including Shawn and Katy, who had gotten settled into Mr. Feeny's guest room first, the tv was on but no was paying it much attention as those who don't talk or see each other as often catch up. Still squished on Josh's lap with Riley, and Auggie mostly on her lap, Maya didn't even realize she was tired before she was asleep, leaning her head against Riley's shoulder, content listening to the sounds of the family she had lucked into all around her.

When Josh's legs started going numb, he told Auggie to go cuddle someone else, then he and Riley had a joint effort of extracting Riley from Maya without waking her. They were partially successful, Maya only waking enough to barely crack her eyes open and whine an incoherent complaint before Josh stood up, picking her up bridal-style with the motion, and she unconsciously wrapped her arms around his neck as he wove his way through his family and took Maya upstairs to bed.

Josh had intended to simply settle her into bed, then go back to his family downstairs, but she surprised him by grabbing onto the leg of the loose sweatpants he had never bothered to change out of as he started to move away from the bed. "Where you think you're goin'?" She said in a sleepy but playful voice. "I didn't even get a goodnight kiss." His undoing was leaning down over her, bracing his hands on either side of her shoulders, to give her said goodnight kiss. As soon as his lips made contact with hers, she grabbed onto his shirt with one hand while the other slid up into his hair, and she deepened the kiss, slowly pulling him down closer to her.

After a couple minutes, he pulled his face away from hers, and she immediately moved to kissing and sucking at the pulse point in his neck, as he registered that he is making out with his girlfriend with literally his entire family downstairs and his bedroom door not even shut. He managed to stutter out something about the family part around taking deep breaths.

"Then I guess you should close and lock the doors, and we should be quiet." was the reply that came from Maya with a wicked grin on her face.

Josh pushed himself up and did as instructed as Maya started stripping off her shirt and yoga pants. He starting the clothing removal process himself, evaluating what else would need to be done while he was still thinking somewhat clearly. "I don't think I have any condoms here…"

Awhile later, as Josh pulled back with a final sigh of contentment, the toilet in their bathroom, which adjoined with Morgan's room, flushed. Maya and Josh both froze, and looked at the bathroom door before meeting each others' eyes again. Josh kinda shrugged to say 'Well, if Morgan or James heard us, there's not anything we can do about it now'. If anyone downstairs had heard, Cory and Shawn would've broken the door down by now.

Josh firmly decided her wouldn't worry about it until he needed to.

As the lights got turned off and they snuggled up in bed, James was back down in the living room ignoring the curious look his girlfriend was giving him for the smirk he had been sporting since he came downstairs from using the bathroom.

The next day is a whirlwind of cooking for Amy, Josh, and Maya. Well, Maya's role was less cooking and more handing stuff to Josh and Amy, before going back to washing the steady flow of dirty preparation dishes either for immediate re-use or stacking carefully off to the side to be put away later. Still, both her kitchen-mates said multiple times how nice an extra pair of hands in that role was, and everything but the turkey was done ahead of schedule.

Maya and Josh trudge back into their apartment midday Sunday exhausted. But in a good way. This had been the first time that every single family member had made it to a gathering in a long time. Usually, there was at least 1 or 2 people who couldn't make it for some reason. While it had been a good time, it was also a LOT of people in one house.

They touched base on their plans for the week, and each took a turn in the shower, then decided that they'd had enough of home -cooked meals for one weekend and ordered Thai food for dinner, eating it on the sofa with Maya's laptop set up on the coffee table streaming some mindless action flick that they didn't need to concentrate much on, eventually deciding to call it a night much earlier than they would normally.

Over the next few weeks, the couple mostly just kept their heads down, both trying to focus on school with a sudden spate of drama erupting around them, both individually and as a unit. Both had had their share of dramas in their lives, and weren't keen on getting sucked into other peoples' now that they had relatively stable, boring lives.

The drama had erupted so suddenly and universally that Maya and Brandon's mixed-media piece ended up inspired by it. Called 'Drama Llama', it was a clay sculpture of a llama, with pieces of broken DVDs (from the thrift store) sticking out and red and black paint splattered all over it as if the llama had been caught between several explosions and was riddled with shrapnel. They had thought of the idea as a joke, then ended up following through with it for lack of a better one, both expecting to scrape by with a just-passing grade. Much to their surprise, the prof had ended up loving it, saying that the symbolism was inspired and the execution close to flawless.

At that comment, they had traded skeptical looks, both clearly thinking that Murphey had come in high that day, but didn't argue at getting a much better grade than they anticipated.

Some of the conflict was hard to stay out of. Starting with that Christmas when Maya and Josh had been reintroduced, there had been an agreement that 4th of July and Thanksgiving would be hosted in Philadelphia, and Christmas would be in New York. This year, for some reason they couldn't figure out, Amy had decided to push for having Christmas back at the house in Philly. And so, the tug-of-war between Amy and Topanga began, each trying to pull various family members to their side of the rope.

Truthfully, with most of the family already living in New York, pretty much everyone agreed that it would be both easier and more comfortable as far as how crowded sleeping quarters are, to have Christmas there. Additionally, everyone except Amy and Alan had travelled to them for Thanksgiving, and they didn't really want to again so soon. On the other hand, everyone except Maya and Katy considered Amy either Mom, Grandma, or Wife, and didn't want to flat out tell her she was being selfish.

As such, it ended up being Maya that settled the matter in favor of New York.

Josh had had his phone on speaker sitting next to him while he studied one evening, trying to placate his mother without actually agreeing with her. This was the 3rd such phone call this week, and Maya's patience was alreading wearing thin with finals looming close, without also having to listen to this again. She hit her breaking point when Amy said Topanga was being selfish and trying to bogart Christmas. Maya got up from her spot on the bed and marched the few steps to the table, snatching up Josh's phone and saying into it "Amy, stop being ridiculous! Almost the whole family is New York based, now. We all already went pretty far out of our collective ways to come stay in an overcrowded house for Thanksgiving, and it is unreasonable to expect us all to turn around and do it again a month later for Christmas. It is the ONLY major holiday that we ask that you guys come to us. Now, suck it up and have Alan call Cory to tell him you'll be staying there for Christmas. Lay off Topanga. Josh and I both have finals to study for. He says he loves you. Goodbye."

Josh's eyes were wide as he watched Maya hang up on his mother and put his phone back down next to him before turning and going back to the bed to re-immerse herself in the section on French Impressionists she was currently cramming.

"I can feel you staring." Maya said a couple minutes later without looking up.

"Well, I am kinda speechless. No one ever talks to mom like that. Not even Topanga."

Maya heaved a sigh. "All I did was verbalize what everyone else was too chicken to say. I don't put up with crap like that from MY OWN mother, forget someone else's- even if she's yours. There's plenty of drama to occupy everyone without her creating more over something so trivial."

Josh felt a pang of pride in his chest as he remembered Eric once telling him that 'we Matthews men have a way of importing strong, fierce, independent women' and realized that Maya may very well end up being the strongest, fiercest, and most independent of them all. He turned his attention back to his own revision with a smile.

Maya's phone pinged at regular intervals for the next couple hours as every family member texted or Facebook-messaged her some version of 'thank you for ending the argument', including Alan, Maya's own mother, and Morgan, who wouldn't even be there this year as she and James would be in New Hampshire with James's family.

When Christmas actually arrived, there was a certain amount of tension in the air as Katy and Topanga cooked, while everyone else talked. Maya and Josh got there last, and, once they walked in, everyone very carefully carried on what they were doing while also waiting for a fight to break out.

Maya handled the situation by acting like there was no situation. She marched through the front door just like she always did, loudly saying, "What up, losers?" before hanging her coat by the door and making her way around the room to greet everyone. Amy, seated next to Eric with Auggie in her lap, got the exact same kiss on the cheek that Maya had greeted her with every time they had seen each other since the girl was 6, and that seemed to seal something in Amy's mind. The guys were expecting Chernobyl, but the girls all recognized the look, exchanging sly smiles between them as Amy took the cue and also resumed business as usual.

Stopping by the dining table, Maya asked if she could do anything. Topanga responded at a normal volume that she and Katy had the food handled, before ducking close to Maya and whispering that she needs to teach Topanga whatever she'd done to handle Amy. Maya started out giggling that her 2 'moms' were now looking at her for advice on dealing with their collective 'mother-in-law', and then weirded herself out a little realizing that her moms were both, in a roundabout kind of way, also her sisters-in-law. The next thought was a vow to not think about that any more.

 **AN: Sorry this is a shorty; I am going back and revising in explicit content for previous chapters as well as writing now. The M rated version will go up separately soon, clearly labelled, and this story will remain rated T. There won't be any major plot variation between the 2, but there will probably end up being some small differences, since scene conversions and context will be different between skipping over explicit content vs. including it.**


	7. Chapter 7

It was, in fact, Boxing Day that Maya and Josh had to field some active drama.

Sometime over the summer, Nikki had apparently done some math and figured out that she had been born while Kermit was still married to Maya's mom, and that Kermit had left Maya to raise her. Nikki had not taken this realization well. She had been all but refusing to speak to Kermit, and was constantly fighting with Rachel, but she had not told them why she was upset for a few months, so they had been trying to force things at first, thinking that it was normal pubescent rebellion fueling her attitude, which only made things worse. Maya, also unaware that Nikki had figured it out, had done her best to be peacemaker.

The situation had come to a head one Saturday evening a couple weeks before Halloween, as Nikki subsequently put together why Maya had been Cassie's Halloween Party escort the previous year, and had blown up at her parents in the middle of costume shopping, before running out of the store. Maya had gotten a frantic phone call from Cassie on Rachel's phone an indeterminate amount of time later, Rachel being occupied mostly with sobbing into Kermit's shirt at her daughter calling her and Kermit a lot of rather unflattering things that Rachel had been trying not to think about for a very long time.

Maya had done her best to reassure Cassie over the phone, telling her that Maya didn't blame either of the girls for the bad situation between her parents, and was trying to pull on sneakers one-handed while still on the phone to go start looking for Nikki, when there was a knock on the door. It was Nikki, and Maya let her in while telling a calming Cass that Nikki was with her, and she would call back later. Cassie relayed this to Kermit with Maya still on the phone, and told Maya as he was leading them towards home before they hung up.

That dealt with for the moment, Maya had sat her little sister down on the sofa, and Nikki had broken down sobbing in between a series of heart-wrenching apologies. Maya had held her and done her best to comfort her and promise that she didn't blame Nikki for any of it, crying a bit herself at her sister's obvious pain.

Once Nikki had cried herself out and calmed down a little, Maya sent her into the bathroom to wash her face and collect herself a little, quickly texting Josh to ask if he would mind crashing at Cory and Topanga's that night, since he was there hanging out with Auggie anyway, giving a brief explanation. As soon as he confirmed in the affirmative, she followed it up with a text to both Kermit and Rachel's phones that Nikki was going to stay with her tonight to calm down and talk things over with Maya, that Maya would let them know what time she was bringing Nikki home tomorrow. As she sent that, another idea occurred, and Maya also texted her mom to confirm that she wasn't working tomorrow morning. The reply from Kermit came at almost the exact same moment as Katy's. His said ok, to let them know if the girls needed anything. Her mother's was a confirmation that she wasn't working and a comment that Shawn's trip had been pushed back and he would be home as well, asking if Maya wanted to do something. Maya gave the briefest summary possible of the current situation and asked if Katy would be ok with her bringing Nikki over for breakfast tomorrow to talk to her. Katy's reply of a simple 'ok' took longer this time, not coming until Maya was heating up some leftovers for Nikki, as she hadn't eaten dinner yet.

It was barely 9 when Nikki began yawning, emotionally exhausted from her day, and Maya said Josh was at his brother's babysitting for the night as she handed her sister some of her own pajamas to change into, asking if Nikki minded sharing the bed, or if Maya should take the couch. Nikki didn't mind sharing, and changed before crawling into bed and falling asleep shortly after Maya turned out the lights, to the sound of Maya's quiet typing on her laptop as she worked on homework on the couch for a couple hours before she went to bed herself.

Maya didn't tell Nikki the plan as she led her to her parent's apartment the next morning. Nikki was confused right up to Maya pulling out her keys to open the door, and she realized where she probably was.

As Nikki immediately tensed and opened her mouth to protest, Maya held her hand and said, "Sweetheart, you need this. And... I think my mom does, too." before swinging the door open and hauling her inside.

On the other side of the door, Shawn was in the kitchen whipping up what look like makings for breakfast burritos, while Katy stood in front of the breakfast bar with a cup of coffee next to her. As Maya closed the door, she turned Nikki to face her parents and put a hand on her shoulder. "Nikki, this is my mom, Katy, and that's my dad, Shawn." the hand moved from Nikki's shoulder to softly tussle Nikki's hair. "Guys, this is Nikki. My little sister."

Shawn said a calm 'Welcome', but Katy didn't seem to know what to say at first. Then she took a good look at this girl, looking so very much like Maya had 4 years ago when Maya herself had been working through figuring out that it wasn't her fault her father had left, whole body tense, tears beginning to well up in her eyes, and, before Katy could do anything, out of the girls mouth came a choked " _I'm so sorry!_ ". Immediately, Katy did the only thing any mother with a heart could possibly do in that situation, stepping forward to fold the girl into a tight mom-hug, petting her hair and telling her it wasn't her fault.

Maya gave them some space, moving into the kitchen to help Shawn finish up breakfast and move all the dishes out to the living room for them to eat from the coffee table and talk.

Throughout the meal, tensions eased all around as they got to know each other, trading stories on their lives. By the end, Nikki was even smiling and laughing a little at stories of Maya when she was younger as she began to understand that, while Maya's life hadn't been fantastic, she now had a pretty cool dad, and hadn't been short on family experiences with the Matthews around.

After they left, Maya took Nikki to a nearby coffee spot to get herself a macchiato and her sister her favorite peppermint steamer. As they sat down and talked about what Nikki thought of Maya's parents, it looked like a massive weight had been unloaded from Nikki's shoulders, and Maya began to prepare them both to take Nikki home, as they still needed to deal with Nikki's parents.

When they got to Kermit and Rachel's apartment, it was incredibly tense. Rachel had tried to send Cassie to her room while the rest of them talked, but Maya put forward the reasoning that Cassie should really hear everything that was going on so she can understand too, and everyone was soon settled in the living room, Maya with her sisters on either side of her on the couch. Cassie was just sitting, watchful, but Nikki was tensed up again, one hand clutching one of Maya's hands tightly.

No one seemed to know how to start, so Maya did it by meeting Kermit's eyes and addressing him directly for possibly the first time since the first couple meals the group had had together. "So, I take it you've been avoiding me since that evening at the diner because you heard me call Shawn 'dad'?" Kermit had, indeed, been avoiding her. As he nodded his confirmation, everyone else looked confused. "I would apologize for you finding out that way, but I'm not really sorry. Mom's life is none of your business, and I gave up on you caring about me a long time ago."

Kermit looked pained. "I do care about you, Maya."

Maya's head shook a denial. "Regardless, you weren't there, so the only parts of my life that you need to know about are parts that might affect these two." she said firmly, gesturing to Cass and Nikki. Before anyone can respond to that, she continues, "Anyway, Nikki and I had a long talk about what happened, both when I was little and everything that has happened since." With this, she looks over to Nikki expectantly.

Nikki took a deep breath before starting to speak. "I'm sorry for blowing up at you guys. It's just, when I realized that dad was still married to Maya's mom when I was born, and that I was the reason Maya grew up without a dad, I was just so _angry_. I still am angry, really, but not as much, and not feeling guilty anymore. Maya and Katy both explained that, even if I was the final reason that Katy and dad got divorced, that it probably would've happened over something else anyway, and they don't blame me for anything." Maya snuck a look to her other side, finding Cass looking shell-shocked. She grabbed her other sister's hand as Nikki kept going. "I'm sorry for all the names I called you guys. And making a scene and running out. I know, now, that I should've talked to you guys about it when I figured it out… I can't promise it won't happen again, but I am going to try to be better at talking to you instead of letting myself be angry for a long time." At this, she threw a grateful look at Maya. "And Maya says I can come to her to talk things out first if I am not comfortable going to either of you, but that I still also have to talk to you guys after, since you are my parents and you need to know what's going on with me."

Maya's arm shifted to around Nikki's shoulders as Nikki scooted closer and leaned into her side. Maya nudged Cassie's side gently with her elbow and said, "That goes for you too, kid." prompting Cassie to follow Nikki in leaning into her oldest sister.

Rachel and Kermit looked like they were both a little overwhelmed, having obviously expected this to be another fight.

"Wait - what do you mean Katy explained to you?" The question came from Rachel.

"Well, even after I talked everything out with Maya last night, I was still feeling guilty, so she took me over to her parents house for breakfast this morning. I met Shawn and Katy, and Katy said she didn't blame me at all. And her and Shawn told me funny stories about Maya. Shawn made breakfast burritos. He's a professional photographer! And really nice. I'm glad he's Maya's dad now." Nikki either didn't notice or didn't care that that statement made Kermit flinch. She had warned them that she was still angry, after all.

After a few minutes of silence, Maya rubbed her sisters' arms, asking "Think you are ok from here, or do you want me to to stay a little longer?"

Nikki locked eyes with Cassie before answering Maya. "I think we'll be ok. We need to explain what's going on to Cassie. Can I call you if she needs to talk to you?"

"Always," Maya answered, squeezing both of them briefly before standing to leave to let the family have the talk they needed to.

Things had remained tense as both Cassie and Nikki began dealing with their feelings about the situation, forcing Kermit and Rachel to do the same in the process, and also suddenly starting to understand more things that they had previously missed since Maya had been in their lives - how she never interacted with Kermit if she could help it, the low-key but ever-present tension between Maya and Rachel, exactly how much their parents didn't know about Maya. There was also a certain amount of resentment that they hadn't at least been told about Maya much sooner, if not known her.

So, Boxing Day, Maya and Josh had been invited over for dinner. They made their way to the apartment, with Josh carrying the gifts for the family, just as he had yesterday for his own family. Being on a rather tight budget, Maya had either drawn or painted everyone's gifts that year (with Josh's input) to be from the both of them. She was particularly pleased with the dual portraits she had gifted Shawn and Cory of them staring lovingly into each other's eyes (they had loved them, while Topanga rolled her eyes).

In addition to the pictures she had drawn or painted for her sisters, Maya had made a larger painting to give to Kermit and Rachel of the girls playing at the beach, based on a photo Rachel had sent her sometime over the summer. It was a gesture mostly for the girls themselves, Maya hoping they would see it as her forgiving their parents in a small way, so maybe they could do the same.

This did not take into account that Maya had not, in fact, forgiven Kermit or Rachel at all, but the important part was the girls' perception. Josh bit his tongue. That was a battle that he would have to wait for Maya to decide to fight herself.

She had been expecting the gifts from her sisters in return - they had made a fast tradition of trading hand-made gifts at Christmas and birthdays - but Maya had been stunned to receive a festively wrapped box from Kermit and Rachel in return after she handed them the oil painting. She had been tempted to reject it outright, wanting nothing from them, but held herself back in the interest of setting an example for her sisters. Opening it, she found a pretty stained-glass vase that Nikki had obviously helped pick out (it would fit well with the jewel-toned theme Maya had going with her general decor at home), and a generous gift card at a florist not extremely far away from her apartment to periodically get flowers to put in it. They were 'ooohh'ing over the painting still as she shot out a 'thank you!' that she hoped didn't sound too fake.

Maya dragged Josh out of there as soon as she reasonably could without being rude, grateful that Rachel hadn't tried to hug her like she expected.

At home, Maya stashed the box with the vase and gift card under the little table between the chair and sofa, where it would be mostly hidden and she wouldn't have to deal with it. She slipped off her coat and handed it back to where Josh was hanging his own on the back of the door, and turned to sit on the back of the chair to pull off her boots. She spread her knees apart as Josh came to stand in front of her, allowing him to get closer and wrap his arms around her waist as she hooked hers around his neck and nuzzled her face into his neck.

Josh asks, "How you doin', baby?" as his hands slide up and down her back.

"Better now. Glad we have almost no obligations for the next few days," Maya replied, before pulling back a little to shoot him an innocent look. "I could use a distraction."

"A distraction, huh?" Josh smirked back, "What kind of distraction are we talking about, here?"

Maya's answer was to lean forward and start kissing his neck as she reached under his shirt to run her nails lightly down his stomach before unbuckling his belt.

The next few days were, as Maya had said, fairly obligation-free. The couple went out for brunch with Josh's parents, just the four of them, on the 28th, the day before Amy and Alan headed back to Philly. Amy and Maya had a couple minutes alone as Alan was paying the bill and Josh was using the restroom. Amy thanked Maya for pulling her out of her ridiculousness over the Christmas location, saying that she got carried away sometimes, and occasionally forgot that her babies all had lives of their own that she needed to think about with things like that. Maya responded with a hug and a statement that she was just glad that Amy wasn't oversensitive, because she didn't think she could've pussyfooted around it much longer.

Other than that and studying ahead a little, Maya and Josh only had the Farkle New Years Eve party to go to. Maya had expected it to be a dressy event (because… Minkus), but apparently he had wanted it to be casual, just friends hanging out instead of a big bash. It would be the first time that Maya would be hanging out with more than one of her old friends at a time in 2 years. She and Riley were hanging out regularly again, though not nearly as much as they use to, and Maya had gotten together with Farkle every few weeks for them to have coffee and catch up since he had made his apology. Smackle, she knew, would not be an issue to deal with, but Zay and Lucas were supposedly coming as well, and Maya wasn't sure how that was going to go. Zay, she imagined, probably wouldn't be bad, as his easygoing attitude had never left, even as he and Lucas had drifted into the popular/jock crowd; she was expecting that they would simply pick up as two friends who hadn't been incredibly close who'd drifted apart, and catch up on their lives, then not talk again until the next event they both happened to be at, and she was ok with that. Lucas…. was another animal. He had seemingly become a different person than the one she knew in middle school, taking to popular jockdom with relish, to the point of managing to pull Riley along for the ride for quite awhile. From what Riley had told her, he had taken to using his looks to sleep around with whatever girls were willing since she had broken up with him just over a year ago. He had taken up the double-letter, star Quarterback/Pitcher jackass persona, with Zay and his laid-back, up-for-whatever attitude as his sidekick. Maya had never gotten along with those types anyway, forget her also being pissed at the influence he'd had on Riley. It wouldn't take much from him to set Maya off, and everyone in the group with half a brain was on high alert. There would be more than the 6 there, which she thought may help. Evidently, basically their whole class had been invited to this shindig, and about half of them had accepted and would be there, along with some others like siblings or significant others (like Josh). If Lucas just mostly stuck to his general crowd and pretty much ignored her, then they should be ok, but there's no telling what is going to happen.

Maya and Josh walk into the large loft that had been rented for the event around 10pm and find the party in full swing. In one corner, there is a DJ set up in front of a dance floor area, but outside of that area, the music is low enough to still talk without shouting. The rest of the space is taken up with tables surrounded by chairs, and groups of couches and armchairs for people to congregate and relax, as well as bowls of chips, pretzels, and various other snacks on every table. There is a "bar" set up off to one side, serving mocktails that Maya knows a number of people will be discreetly spiking from flasks. Several people say hi as they walks in, a few, like Sarah and Darby, coming over for short hugs with Maya. Josh was recognized and greeted as well, him having made periodic appearances in his brother's classes over the years, including the now-somewhat-infamous ski lodge trip.

Eventually, the couple made it first to the bar, each walking away with some mix of fruit juice and soda water imitating a cocktail. In walking around to try and find somewhere to sit, they ran into Smackle on her way from the bathroom.

In her Smakley way, she greeted Maya by saying , "I would like to extend my apologies for failing to maintain our friendship once our immediate peer group was paired off with mates." before pulling Maya into an unexpected, and surprisingly un-awkward, hug, before turning to Josh, looking him up and down, and saying, still in that special Smaklish way, "YOWZA, Uncle Boing. You got even hotter." before wrapping herself tightly around his middle. Josh held himself back from laughing ass he gently patted her on her upper back before she let go. Smackle motioned to the far corner of the room, continuing, "Farkle, RIley, and I have some sofas if you'd like to join us." before turning on her heel and heading back there, not checking to see if Maya and Josh were following.

Maya and Josh did follow, linking their free hands and exchanging an amused look. As they approach, Farkle sees them first and moves from his spot on one couch to sit on Riley's lap on the sofa perpendicular to his. She is amusedly questioning why he did that before she follows his gaze and tries to stand, failing with her friend effectively holding her down. "Farkle! Let me up!"

Smackle reclaims what was probably her previous seat next to where Farkle had been as Farkle says, "In a minute, Riley. Let them set their drinks down and get settled first." as Maya and Josh go about doing exactly that, grateful, since they knew they'd've been in need of new drinks immediately if she had succeeded in tackle-hugging them as she was prone to. Maya pecks Farkle on the cheek with a 'thanks' as she sits down next to Riley, Josh settling on her other side. Farkle moves back to the other couch, and Maya immediately has armsful of Riley, who is just as excited as ever to see her.

Over the next hour and a half, easy conversation flows, with the group shifting positions as various topics crop up and the interested parties group together while the others talk something else. There is a steady flow of other people hopping in and out of the group as well, many stopping to chat with Maya, since no-one had known what happened to her, only registering that, one day, she was no longer there, and then a few weeks later she was blowing up on Instagram for getting onstage with DNCE.

It's nearly 11:30 when the noisy group arrives. They collectively look toward the door and recognize Lucas and Zay at the center of the group of obviously mostly-drunk teenagers. As Maya's group turns back to each other, Farkle asks, "Do you want me to get rid of them? Security has standing orders to kick out anyone causing trouble." There were indeed security staff positioned around the perimeter of the room, and periodically taking walks through the crowd. This had ensured that those who were spiking their drinks did so discreetly and kept them from getting sloppy drunk. Unfortunately, the new additions were obviously coming from elsewhere, already intoxicated.

Maya and Riley lock eyes for a long moment before Maya replies for both of them. "Leave them for now. You can always give the signal if they start actually doing anything to cause trouble." Farkle acknowledges that with a nod and they get back to conversation.

Several minutes later, Maya gets up to head for the ladies room, wanting to get back in time to kiss Josh at midnight. On her way back, she isn't paying much attention to who is around her and she dodges people to get back to her group, and accidentally runs smack into Zay and Lucas. Literally. In swerving around one couple that couldn't wait until midnight and were already making out, Maya walked smack into Zay's back. He turned around to see who bumped into him, and gave a bright smile as he said, "Hey! It's the lil' ball of fluffy rage!" before pulling her into a one-armed, sideways hug that also, incidentally, moved her to be standing with the group he had been talking to.

Maya conjures up the best smile she can, which isn't much, as she looks around the group and tosses out a general, unenthusiastic, "Hey, long time no see…" The rest of this group consists of Lucas, Missy Bradford hanging on his arm, a couple of guys she vaguely recognizes as baseball players, and a few of the girls from Missy's posse.

Lucas said "Hey, shortcake" and reached over in an attempt to tussle her hair.

Maya leaned back to avoid his hand, also removing herself from under Zay's arm in the process. "Lucas." She returned his greeting shortly.

Missy decided to butt in at this point, giving a sarcastically fake smile and spouting off with, "So, Maya, how have you been? I was sooo sorry to see you dropped out…."

Maya returned the bitchy smile, explaining as if she was talking to a toddler, "Actually, I g-r-a-d-u-a-t-e-d. It's not quite the same thing, but I can understand why _**you**_ might get them confused." Missy's smile dropped into a scowl, and Maya's turned to a smirk. "I'm studying art at NYU, trying to decide what I want to specify in next year. I have an apartment with my boyfriend, who is pretty fantastic. Overall, I'm doing pretty great."

"Hah. That's a very 'Maya' move. Moving in with the first random guy you managed to get to ask you out, I mean," this comes from Lucas, who grabs a flask Maya hadn't previously noticed from his buddy and takes a swig from it.

Maya opens her mouth to respond, but stops herself as she notices Josh approaching from behind Lucas. Josh skirts around Lucas, cutting through the middle of the group to join her, putting an arm around Maya's waist, hand cupping her hip and pulling her into him. "Guys, for anyone who doesn't already know him from Mr. Matthews' class, this is my boyfriend, Josh." Maya smiles up at him through introducing him to the group. As Josh sends around a general 'hey', Maya looks back forward and notes that Lucas's expression had gone from smug to pissed.

Josh somehow manages to sound blandly friendly as he addresses the group as a whole, "Sorry to steal Maya away from you guys, but it's nearly midnight and I need to make sure she's the first face I see in the new year." This elicits some drunkenly loud 'awwww's from the girls that aren't Missy, and at least one bad imitation of a whipping noise from the others.

Maya raises a hand in goodbye as Josh pulls her away. They've only taken a few steps when she hears it. "Man, if I knew she was that easy, I would've tapped it when I had the chance. Must be pretty good if she managed to trap him after he made it so clear he wasn't interested." She gets a fleeting look of anger registering on Josh's face, but she has beaten him to reacting, whirling around and taking two large steps forward, grabbing the front of Lucas's shirt to pull his face down to her level, taking his distraction at the as an opportunity to bring her knee up swiftly to nail him in the balls. She kept a tight hold on his shirt as he jerked, pained expression on his now ashen face.

Just loud enough for the two of them to hear, Maya says, "Honestly? I don't even give a fuck what you think of me, or my relationship with Josh, but I promised Riley I wouldn't do anything to you unless you started it. So, you wanna go, you little **worm**? I have been waiting over a year for this. Let's rumble."

Lucas had the presence of mind to look scared, but before anything more can happen, Maya is grabbed around the waist and pulled back, and Josh's voice is in her ear, saying security is coming over. With that, Maya finally releases Lucas's shirt and allows herself to be removed from the group, but maintains eye contact with Lucas to make sure her point is sinking in. As the security guys bust into the group, they begin telling the teenagers to collect their things. One had been near enough to hear Lucas's insult, as he had hardly been quiet about his proclamation, so he makes a show of leading them away, but actually says "I'm sorry about that miss, Mr. Minkus gave directives to leave them be unless they made trouble."

Maya gave a tight smile, already aware. "It's okay, man. I was aware. He was just being an ass. Thanks for busting it up before I had to get really violent with him."

By the time they have separated from the security guard and Josh has led her off to a relatively unpopulated area by the wall between the bar and the dance floor, people are pairing up and getting ready for the ten-second countdown. Maya is keyed up, and doesn't care at this point. She reaches up with one hand and pulls Josh's face down and is kissing him as the room begins counting down. They kiss in the new year, ignoring the cheers around them, eventually parting just for Maya to wrap him up in a hug and nuzzle her face into his shoulder. Josh's arms go around her in return, and he kisses her head as she takes a minute to process what had happened in the last ten minutes before they rejoin Riley, Farkle, and Smackle.

As they settle back into their seats, fresh drinks in hand, Riley looks like she can't decide if she's happy or angry, and Maya knows it's because of her interaction with Lucas. On the one hand, she has always hated when Maya fights, and didn't want Maya to actually do anything to Lucas on her behalf. On the other hand, the security guy had told Farkle, and her and Isadora by extension, what Lucas had said about Maya and Josh. Not that she thought for a second that what Lucas said had anything to do with Maya kicking him in the nuts (she knew Maya WAY too well for that), but Riley was still upset on Maya's behalf that he said it.

Everyone settled back into chatting and laughing quickly enough, getting back to the previous flow of talking with each other, and other people that stopped by, until around 1:30, when people began drifting out at the gentle prodding from the security staff. As hugs went around, tentative group plans were made for a small get-together with just them around Maya's birthday the following week, and promises to talk or text were made.

Maya was counting the evening is an overall win as she and Josh finally re-entered their studio, happy that she had managed to get their core group and Isadora solidly back together. She was looking forward to next week.

Some odd confluence of events, there was no time within a week either direction that the Matthews/Hunter clan could find time in the various schedules to get together for Maya's birthday, so she and Josh ended up going to a few different dinners for secular celebrations. It was the weekend after her birthday that the friends managed to get together for the group festivities, which ended up being Farkle renting a karaoke room for them and ordering takeout for everyone for dinner. Being the oldest except Josh, she lorded her new status as legal adult over them playfully, joking about buying cigarettes just because she could, with no intention of doing it, but still earning a stern lecture from Riley with interjected tobacco-related statistics from Smackle.

Given their less-than-roomy budget, Maya and Josh had mutually agreed that they wouldn't be going all-out, and would keep things small for birthdays this year. Josh's version of that for Maya was taking her out to dinner, then leading her to their friend Andrew's off-campus apartment, where she found all their mutual NYU friends in full party swing. Maya decided to indulge for the first time in awhile and ended up downing several drinks through the night, which she normally wouldn't even consider on a Tuesday, but it was her 18th birthday, and she only had two classes the following day, both in the afternoon, so she thought 'what the hell?'. Being a weekday, the party broke up fairly early (around midnight), but a number of the attendees were stumbling in groups back to various dorms or other locales. Josh, having kept himself to a couple beers since he had a full day of classes and work tomorrow, ended up piggy-backing a very giggly Maya most of the way home, laughing quietly himself as she monologued and put one of her hands down the neck of his shirt to grope his torso as he walked.

It was almost the opposite situation for Josh's birthday six weeks later. Since Valentines fell on a Thursday that year, everyone had planned to celebrate the following day, so there was a family dinner the day-of, which almost never happened. This worked out well for Maya, who had thought along similar lines as Josh had for her birthday, but bigger.

She had connected with Noel, a guy in Josh's program that he was friends with, who also happened to be in a frat that had a townhouse. With his help, she organized a full-out kegger. It wasn't hard for Noel to secure the use of the frat house, between it being a Friday, the fact that half the guys would be out with their significant others' for Valentines anyway, and that it was Josh's 21st birthday. All their friends chipped in for a few kegs, as well as bringing various bottles and mixers, Maya making sure there were snacks available. She had debated just sending him out with the over-21 portion of their friend group for a pub crawl, and making sure someone had money to get Josh wasted, but Andi had pitched the idea of a party so that everyone could participate.

Maya followed Josh's example of just having a couple beers at the party, both to make sure they got home ok, and generally playing hostess, slightly paranoid about things getting too rowdy and the cops showing up and busting about half the people there for underage drinking. Being a Friday, this party was both bigger and louder than hers had been, running later as well. She called it at 3, when the party had wound down enough for her to be comfortable handing the reins over to a drunk Noel to make sure the remaining people either got home safely or stayed there. It was Josh's turn to monologue and grope her in public as she propped him up to keep them moving in a relatively straight line as they headed to the subway, then from the subway home. She was pretty proud of herself as she gently pushed him from standing to a sitting position on their bed.

He only stayed sitting for a moment, quickly collapsing back to lay down, saying, "Oh, this definifelee feelss better. Dis wuzza great ideea, babe."

Maya chuckled as she knelt to untie his sneakers and slip them and his socks off. "Yeah, we'll see if you're still saying that in the morning." With that, she put off undressing the rest of him and got up to grab him a glass of water and a few ibuprofen to take before he passes out. She's pretty sure she can maneuver him out of clothes while he's unconscious, but getting water and meds in him is another story. She has to take off her own shirt to coax him back into a sitting position, but manages to get him to swallow the pills and drink the water, also convincing him that a final bathroom trip to pee is a good idea. While he's in the bathroom, she stows their jackets and shoes, undressing herself and locking up as he slowly shuffles his way back to the bed.

A few minutes later, the lights are out, and they are in bed, Josh curled around Maya so his head is laying on her chest. She runs a hand slowly through his hair and thinks he's asleep until he sleepily says, "Know we aren ready yet, but I'ma make you a Maffews forreal one day…"

Maya smiles as she replies, "Not if I make you a Hunter first, Boing."

Josh lets out a giggle, squeezing her a little. "Don' care eivver way. Long as you my wifey. 'Ventooly." A moment after this, his breathing abruptly evens, and he lets out a soft snore.

A/N. I'm so sorry this is so short and took so long. I have had some major Life Stuff happening that hasn't let me time or energy to really write. I will try to get another, longer chapter up soonish.


	8. Chapter 8

Farkle is confused. It doesn't happen much, so it bothers him more than it probably should.

He loves Isadora. She understands him in ways no one else does, and the thought of not having her as a partner in romance is abhorrent to him. He loves her, and their relationship. But there's a weird feeling of discontent that has been growing lately.

He started to notice it with the last boy Riley had dated. They had only gone out a few times before mutually deciding they just didn't have the chemistry, but Farkle had found himself…. irrationally jealous. At first, he had told himself that it was just him being protective of her, after all the drama caused by her getting so caught up in Lucas and high school in general. When another boy had asked Riley out in the hall this past Friday, and his immediate reaction had been unfounded irritation, he had been unable to deny that what he was actually feeling was jealousy. But he had no reason to be jealous. Riley is not his to be jealous about. He loves her, of course, he has since they were kids. And he's happy with Isa!

Farkle is thinking about this as Maya sits down across the table from him at the café where they are meeting for lunch. It's Tuesday of spring break, so she is meeting him before heading to the job she got a couple weeks ago as a desk clerk for a dance studio. He greets her, watching as Maya immediately notices something is off with him. He hasn't bothered to try and hide his turmoil, knowing she would see past it immediately regardless. Unlike the Maya of a few years ago, she surprisingly patiently makes small talk with him through ordering and receiving drinks, and ordering food, before she stops and simply stares at him expectantly. Farkle spills his guts in a confused jumble of abbreviated sentences.

There's a couple minutes of silence as he watches Maya process what he has said. She takes a couple slow sips of her water before saying, "Per usual, for a genius, you are being kinda dumb." Farkle isn't offended. She has been telling him this since they were 6, always because he needs to hear it. The statement actually calms him down; both with its' familiarity, and because it means that he is making a mountain of a molehill. There's a simple explanation staring him in the face that he just can't see due to his natural inclination to overthink things. Maya sees him visibly relax, and starts leading him in conversation so he can reach the conclusion on his own.

"All of these will be yes or no." Farkle nods his understanding.

"You love Isa."

"Yes."

"You love Riley."

"Yes, b-" he cuts himself off as she raises her hand. "Yes."

"You are romantically attracted to Isa."

"Yes."

"You are romantically attracted to Riley."

Farkle hesitates at this one. After a moment of staring into the unjudging face of his best friend, his answer is another "Yes."

"You are physically attracted to Isa."

"Yes."

"You are physically attracted to Riley."

His hesitation is shorter this time. "Yes."

"The reason you think you can't be with both of them is due to a societal morae that is unsubstantiated and unsupported by any biological imperatives."

Farkle has no immediate answer for this. Their sandwiches are set down in front of them, and Maya picks the tomato out of hers while Farkle processes her last statement. He idly moves the pickle spear from the side of his plate to hers, grabbing her discarded tomato slices and adding them to his own sandwich, and they begin munching in comfortable silence as he processes her last statement.

Halfway through her sandwich, Farkle hasn't responded, but Maya continues, "You haven't discussed your feelings with either Isa or Riles."

"No."

"Isa would judge you."

"No."

"Riley would judge you."

"No."

Maya looks at him expectantly, not saying anything.

Farkle fiddles with his fries, dragging a couple through a spot of mustard on his plate. "I might be polyamorous." Maya is still looking at him. "I need to talk to Isa and tell her how I am feeling, as well as my conclusion, and give her time to evaluate her own feelings on the matter, then we need to figure out where this leaves us." He watches Maya smile and go back to her own food. "You aren't surprised. Not even a little."

"You have always loved us both- exactly the same." Just like the statement about him being a dumb genius, Maya says it in the exact same matter-of-fact way that he had been saying it since they were 6.

Farkle feels the statement settle over him like a blanket as he realizes that it isn't as if he has suddenly *become* maybe-polyamorous; he has always been inclined to love more than one person in the same way, it is just in a more complicated way now that he is older, so he is only now noticing. He just needs to reconcile his nature with his learned morals, and those of both his current mate and, if she is amenable, those of a potential second mate, if she is also amenable.

The rest of their lunch is spent in less serious chatter about Maya's new job, something Farkle's 10-year-old twin brothers had done recently that amused him, and Maya worrying that is it now Josh that is overworking himself, preparing for his finals, doing his internship, and writing his thesis to graduate. As the two friends parted ways after lunch (Farkle insisting on paying, just as he always had), they share a long hug. Farkle makes his way home ruminating on both the things he needs to in regards to his relationship, and also at how much Maya had… not changed, exactly, or grown up. Those weren't accurate. Maya was very much still Maya, and Maya had always been the most grown-up of them- her life had ensured that. Matured- that was the word he was looking for. She's calmer. He's not sure how much of that is from how isolated she was in high school and graduating early, and how much is the steady influence of Josh in her life. He was simultaneously proud of her and still a bit mad at himself for the part he played in her isolation.

Maya got to work and clocked in, going through the in-basket by the filing cabinet and beginning to sort it as the daytime desk clerk finishes what she's doing before evacuating the desk so Maya can sit down, briefing Maya on whatever she'll need to know for the afternoon and evening as she settles.

The work day goes by quickly for Maya, as she answers emails and the phone, helps students that walk up to the desk, coordinates last-minute class coverage for an instructor that got called away for a family emergency, and keeps tabs on the studio's social media accounts. It's different work than she was used to as a waitress, less physical, but more mentally demanding as she juggles class schedules, applying payments to student accounts, copying and filing paperwork, and constantly stopping to answer questions or reply to things they are tagged in online, as well as handling many other random issues that pop up throughout the day as she can without having to call in the manager, who also taught classes.

Double-checking the schedule for classes the following day, she makes a mental note to bring her workout bag tomorrow for the late hip-hop class she's taking and clocks out at 8:30 to head home. When she walked in the door to her apartment, it was to find Josh, as he always is recently, with all his school and thesis work scattered and spread as much as possible across their small dining table, looking exhausted. He doesn't even notice her come in until she is settled and comfortable, and has made them both sandwiches, placing one on a plate down next to his laptop.

Josh blinks hard a few times at the seemingly magical appearance of the sandwich, Maya having already moved behind him to eat on the couch, not expecting him to come out of his focused state for at least another hour or three. So, she is surprised when he pops out his earbuds and says, "Thanks, babe. I forgot dinner entirely."

"Yeah, I figured." She responds, trying not to sound like a petulant toddler on the verge of a hissy fit. She understands why he is so busy, but can't help feeling ignored as they sometimes barely say a couple sentences to each other in a day anymore. It's been weeks since they have done anything with each other except sleep in the same bed for a few hours a night once Josh finally admits his exhaustion and stumbles to bed. The way he scarfs down the sandwich tells her that he had forgotten lunch too. "You've been at that for over 12 hours today; are you in a spot you can stop for the night and maybe spend an hour with your girlfriend before bed?" It came out bitchier than she intended, asking the question with her eyes trained purposefully on her own remaining half-sandwich, on it's plate, which is sitting in her lap, fiddling to make things stack up straighter for something to do with her hands.

Josh was oblivious. "Actually, I think I am going to go out for a late run. I have been sitting so much lately, my muscles are starting to get stiff."

Maya kept her face carefully blank as she took another bite of her sandwich, while Josh began moving around their little apartment getting changed into running gear, an offhand, 'I'll be back in a bit' the only other exchange as he walked out the door. Once he is gone, she tosses her remaining food in the trash and quickly washes their plates. As she thought about another night of falling asleep probably without him, she quickly looked down to verify that she was presentable enough (yoga pants and a tank top, under a hoodie) before, on a whim, putting her sneakers on, throwing a change of clothes for tomorrow into her gym bag with her dance gear, and walking out of the apartment, locking it behind her, having heard Josh shove his keys in his pocket as he left.

Twenty minutes later, Maya is quietly creeping up the fire escape towards Riley's room, knowing that the Matthews' downstairs neighbors had small kids that were probably in bed by now. When she reached Riley's window, she peeked in to find Riley, in bed already, but still awake, sitting up and watching Netflix on the laptop that was open on the bed in front of her. Maya gently tried the window to find it locked- unsurprising, since she tended to come in through the door these days. Cory and Topanga had long since taken the control locks off them, once again trusting Riley to be responsible. As Maya tapped on the window to get Riley's attention, she saw Riley visibly stifle a small yelp of startle before she recognized Maya on her escape.

A minute later, and Maya was inside, though not very far. She had crawled in just to toss her bag and purse down off to the side, then immediately sat down in the bay window seat. Riley, already worried, rubbed Maya's back as her best friend seemed to collapse into their spot. "Maya, what's wrong?" It had to be something with Josh, or Maya would not be here, unannounced, in the middle of spring break, armed with an overnight bag for an impromptu sleepover.

Maya's eyes close and she looks exhausted as she lays her head on Riley's shoulder and says, "I just... need a night away."

"Did... you two... fight?" The question is hesitant. Riley's not sure she wants to know the answer, knowing that she would feel compelled to pick sides, even if neither asked her to. And she would pick Maya's, in a heartbeat, which would make things awkward with the rest of the family.

Maya's head shakes a little, and she sits up on her own again. "No. He's just been really busy so close to graduation. Tonight, I got home from work and made us sandwiches for a late dinner - because he forgot to eat all day while I was out, again - and I asked if he was at a stopping point so we could spend a little time together." Maya started at her hands, which she was twisting in her lap.

"And he wasn't?" Riley is understanding. She knows how hard it is for Maya to actually ask for things like that. She feels like an imposition when she does, even when she isn't imposing at all.

Maya sighed. "No, he WAS at a stopping point for the night. And he decided that going out for a run, by himself, was what he wanted to do. Didn't even give me time to ask if I could come with- I was still eating! - just got changed all speedy-like and rushed out the door. I would've been happy to do that with him, we used to go running all the time. But once he was gone, I just... didn't want to go to bed alone again. I think his birthday was the last time we went to bed at the same time, I'm always sound asleep by the time he pulls his head out of his research and realizes he should sleep. Then, today, he is actually stopping at a decent enough time, and I barely get two sentences out of him before he's literally running to get away. I'm pretty sure he didn't even look at me."

Riley stood abruptly with a "WHAT?" before Maya pulled her back down by the back of her pajama shirt. "No, Maya, I am going to march right over-"

"No, you aren't." Maya interrupted.

"Why not?" Riley asked indignantly.

"Because, he probably doesn't even realize anything's wrong, and, really, nothing is technically wrong. I am just being a little needy because he doesn't have any free time right now. I will be ok tomorrow. I just need a sleepover with my bestie." Maya hugged Riley around the waist, before kicking off her shoes in the general direction of her bags, then hopping up to go into the bathroom to brush her teeth before bed- as always, there was a toothbrush with a snap-on cover over the bristles, with Maya's name written on it in Sharpie. She knows Topanga changes out the whole family's toothbrushes every 6 months, so it will be brand new. Maya deliberately doesn't think about the fact that it is right next to the one with Josh's name on it, and they are matching colors.

When she gets back to Riley's room a few minutes later, Riley has shifted her spot on the bed over, and Maya's favorite pillow is in "her" spot on the side closest to the window. There's a small smile on Maya's face as she sheds her hoodie and bra, dropping them with her other things, and crawls in bed to get comfy next to Riley, who hit Restart on the episode of NCIS:LA she had been watching before Maya got there.

Early the next morning, Maya wakes to the familiar creak of Riley's bedroom door, followed by Cory saying "Calm down, she's here. Looks like her and Riley fell asleep watching a movie or something... Yeah, I'll tell her when she gets up." in a low voice, before quietly shutting the door again, and Maya hears his footsteps padding softly towards the stairs as she opens her eyes. The light coming in from the window is grayish-pink, indicating the sun is still rising. Maya could already feel that she wouldn't be getting back to sleep- she had gotten just enough that her body was satisfied and wouldn't go back to sleep again, but not actually ENOUGH, meaning that she would be ready to drop by the time she was done with work and her dance class tonight.

Being plenty comfortable in the house, Maya doesn't bother putting more clothes on than the yoga pants and tank she had slept in as she gently gets out of bed and moves downstairs, stopping halfway down as she hears Cory and Topanga talking about her and Josh.

"I don't know, Maya obviously didn't tell him she was coming over here last night, otherwise he would've known that she probably fell asleep here."

There's a sigh from Topanga, "I know. I am just a little worried. Have you noticed the lack of... anything on both of their social media lately?" Cory makes a non-committal grunt and there's the sound of shuffling fabric, probably as he pulls his phone back out of his pajama pocket to look. While he checks their Facebook and Instagram, Topanga continues, "Usually, they are constantly posting about all the stuff they are doing, even if it's just a picture of them hanging out and watching TV with snacks. Other than Maya saying something about her new job, neither of them have posted anything since around Josh's birthday. It just makes me wonder what's going on."

A small clunk as Cory finishes his perusal and sets his phone down on the kitchen table. "They're alright. If there was anything really wrong, you know they would've come to either us or Katy and Shawn. Every couple has rough patches, if it goes on much longer w-"

Cory cut off as Maya backed up the stairs to near the top and made sure her footsteps made noise as she came down again. She hadn't wanted to hear more. "Morning," her voice is still a little croaky from sleep, and she throws a sleepy smile at them with the greeting as she rounds from the stairs into the kitchen and moves immediately toward the fresh pot of coffee.

"Hey, sweetie! We didn't realize you came over last night!" Topanga is the exact level of cheerful to convey she is happy to see Maya without being obnoxious for the hour of the morning they are up at.

Maya pours herself a mug of coffee and joins them at the table, sitting next to Topanga. "Yeah, it was kinda last minute. I came in through Riles' window for old times sake, and we settled straight down watching Netflix." Maya hedged a little.

Cory gave her a careful look. "Josh called this morning. He seemed to think you were missing."

Maya cringed a little and responded, "Well, like I said, it was last minute. He was out running, and I probably forgot to text him that I was leaving, and I think my phone is still on vibrate from work last night, so I wouldn't have heard him trying to call. I'll let him know I am ok when I go back upstairs."

Cory's nod was oddly calculating.

Topanga seems to have gotten more reassurance out of the explanation than Cory as she relaxes minutely and asks, "So, you and Riley have any plans for today?"

"I think I am going to see if Riles wants to go to breakfast, and maybe get pedis or something. I have work at 2." The three continue chatting until Topanga has to go get ready for work, at which point Cory puts on gym clothes to go work out, something Maya hasn't been able to get used to the idea of in the 4 years since she realized that he actually did it a couple times a week. She knew, of course, that he wasn't overweight or anything, and he certainly wasn't muscle-y, it just clashed so much with how she thought of him to realize that he actually worked out to make sure it stayed that way. It's less jarring now, but she is sure it will never sit quite right in her head.

Auggie is the next person down, pouring himself a bowl of cereal as Maya hears Riley get in the shower above them. Technically, neither of them really needs to be up, since school is out, but they are still on school-schedules that could be hard to break in a few days unless one was really trying. She chats with Auggie until the shower turns off again, at the same time that Cory gets back from the building gym. Maya plants a kiss on Topanga's cheek as they pass each other on the stairs, and Maya beats Riley back to her bedroom by about a minute. As they get dressed, Maya proposes the plan for breakfast then a trip to the nail shop for pedicures. Riley agrees on the condition that they also get manicures.

"Honey, you know it isn't going to last a shift at work." Riley takes a few shifts a week at Topanga's for pocket money and to help out.

"I know, but I don't have to work for a couple days, so I will enjoy it while I can." was Riley's response. Maya can only shake her head and smile.

Once she is dressed, Maya finally gives in and unlocks her phone, seeing several missed calls and texts from Josh beginning around 5 this morning. He must have woken up early for some reason and realized that she never came home. As she marks everything as read, she begins thinking about her reply, which she types out at an oddly slow pace for her.

{Sorry. After you left, I decided to come hang out with Riles, forgot to txt you. We are going out to b-fast then getting our nails done. Will see you when I get home from work and dance 2nite. 3 you!}

Maya locks her phone again and shoves it to the bottom of her purse, not bothering to turn the ringer back on, as she and Riley head out to find somewhere for food. It's now 8 am, so there will be plenty of both teenagers on break and adults on their way to work crowding diners and bakeries alike for the breakfast rush. They end up in some random coffee shop several blocks away that neither of them have been in before that isn't *too* crowded. A tiny table in the corner opens up while they are waiting to receive their drinks and food, so Maya sends Riley to grab it while she waits for their order.

It's awhile before Maya is setting their drinks and plates down on the table that barely fits it all. Maya bites into her steak and egg wrap as Riley cuts the blueberry muffin they are sharing in half and starts eating her own yogurt with fruit and granola.

"So..." Riley begins after a couple minutes. "Farkle has been acting weird lately."

"Oh?" Maya says.

Riley shrugs, "I mean, now that we are friends again, we are spending time together, but it's different when it's just the two of us. Not bad, just different. And he gets this super protective look anytime he sees me talking to a guy. Do you think he's worried about me making the Lucas mistake again?"

Maya chews slowly and swallows before answering, just as slowly, "I'm... not... at liberty to discuss how Farkle is feeling in regards to you right now."

Riley's head whips up from where she had been paying attention to her yogurt, to stare, shocked, at Maya. "What?"

Maya sighs. "I had lunch with him before work yesterday. He had an issue that he was being a dumb genius about."

"So, you helped him learn a social thing." Riley states, knowing the process.

"Kind of." Maya hedges. "Look, I really can't tell you. I know we can usually tell each other almost anything, but Farkle trusted me with this before anyone. You have to wait until he talks to you about it. If he does at all. That kinda depends on someone else."

Maya can tell Riley is struggling whether or not to declare Ring Power. If she does... Maya would have to break it for the first time. This is too important. She puts on her serious face to deter Riley from that course of action. Thankfully, Riley gets the message, pursing her lips briefly before going back to her breakfast.

"Buuutt..." Maya goes on, prompting Riley to whip her head up again. "We CAN talk about how YOU feel about FARKLE."

Riley gives her a face that says 'Why are you even asking?'. "I love him. He's Farkle. Duh."

Finished with her wrap, Maya grabs her half of the muffin. "No, honey. Stop. Really think about it. All the time you two are spending together, both with and without Isadora, other than the fact that I'm not there... is anything... different?"

Riley begins tearing bites off her own half of the muffin, contemplating her answer. "I… am not sure?"

"That's ok." Maya reassures her best friend. "I mostly just needed you to start thinking about it. Just…. Keep it in mind over the next few weeks." Maya shuts up again as Riley raises a suspicious, Topanga-esque eyebrow before nodding.

It's, surprisingly, Riley that changes the subject, as they both finish their breakfast, handing the small stack of empty plates off to a passing busser that was carefully weaving through the crowded cafe collecting dishes in a bin.

"What are you going to do about Josh?" Maya is surprised that Riley switched topics, but not about what she switched it to.

Heaving a sigh, Maya takes a long pull off her latte and says, "I don't know. I know this situation won't be forever, but it really sucks. I have to figure out how to make it through the next two and a half months until he graduates. I mean, eventually, I will be distracted with studying for finals, but not until almost May. I am actually surprisingly on top of my classes… I also need to declare a major soon. I'm technically in GenEd right now, and happen to be taking some art classes, and I have spent it getting some pre-reqs completed. My counselor says that I need to try and make a decision before summer."

"Are you leaning towards anything in particular?"

"Not sure. I like the idea of animation, and you can make pretty good money off it if you are good. But that's really tech-heavy… my hangup is that I also want something…. Messy. Hands-on. But I also like Music Theory and Production- there was this group project in conjunction with that department, and I got to learn some basics, it was really cool." Maya's eyes lit up as she discussed her options, clearly excited about the possibilities. "Have you decided where you are going yet?

Riley was in the final stretch of her senior year of high school, now, which means it's time for her to start making decisions about college. At Maya's question, she physically wilted, hunching around her mocha. "I haven't heard back from everywhere yet. Yale wait-listed me." Riley had always wanted to be just like her mom, so it had to be a big blow to not get in automatically. "Boston U accepted, and UCLA." Maya swore she felt her heart stop thinking that Riley might fly off to LA for the next four years. "And UPenn." Maya's heart started again - there's a lot of options that are nearby that she can… encourage... Riley to…. take another look at... if UCLA stays on the table. "Everyone else I am waiting to hear from are Ivys- Brown, Harvard, Columbia." She'd been applying for pre-law. Maya wasn't sure if Riley would make the best or worst lawyer ever, but she wanted to be Toganga, so she would stubborn her way straight to the Bar, no matter what.

"Have you told your parents yet?" Maya asks. She is the only one who knows exactly what Riley had been applying for. Riley hasn't told anyone else what program she is trying to get into, because she feels like it would be jinxing it.

Riley shakes her head. "Not until I at least narrow it down to a short list. I'll probably ask for mom's help picking at that point."

At this point, they have finished their drinks, so they take a second to wipe any crumbs from the tiny table into their cups, which they drop at the dirty dish station near the counter - #waitresshabits - before wandering out to find a nail salon that is already open at 9:30am. They continue to chat through their mani/pedis, before meandering their way back to the Matthews' apartment for lunch. Maya doesn't once look at her phone, and Riley doesn't comment on that, even when Josh sends *her* a text asking her to tell Maya to call him. She passes on the message, and carefully doesn't comment as Maya says she'll call him on her way to work, that this is best friend time. Riley passes the message back to Josh that Maya would call before work.

Maya leaves for work at 1, despite it only being about 20 minutes away by subway, so she'll have time to stop in a park or something to talk to Josh. She is NOT looking forward to this call. She knows she is behaving immaturely, and he has every right to be upset at her for going MIA and ignoring him all morning, but she also wants to give him a taste of what she is feeling. Indeed, the conversation is rather one-sided, as Josh vents his frustration at her, not pausing for longer than a breath at a time, leaving Maya unable to get a word in. She hit her breaking point at around 25 minutes when he actually said that it is her fault he was losing almost a whole day of work on his thesis because he is worried about/upset with her. At that point she interrupted him to say, "Sorry, I guess I should let you go then so you can get back to that. I need to get to work anyway. I have dance class after, so you are going to need to feed yourself, because I won't be home until 10." Then she hung up on him.

Noticing her idle wandering while she listened to Josh rant at her has left her right next to a park bench, she collapses down on it, resting her elbows on her knees and leaning forward to fist her fingers in her own hair to try and collect herself. Knowing she can't reasonably expect Josh to drop any of his stuff, she brainstorms things to occupy her for the next few months, shooting a quick email to her school counsellor, asking for advice on a couple extra classes to take this quarter to "explore options for majors". She always has the option of getting another job as well. She sets a reminder on her phone for the next morning to look up more grants to apply for. Even working, extra classes would still cut into her bottom line.

Over the afternoon, Maya is glad for the relaxed atmosphere at the studio. No one cares if she is on her phone, as long as she is still taking care of people that walk up or call. By the time Mindy, one of the instructors, takes over to cover Maya's lunch break, Maya has dropped the life drawing class she had already been signed up for, replacing it with Set Design for the theater department, and adding Technology in Art. At her counsellor's urging, she also sent an email to the head of the Theater Club to see about joining that, or at least attending for a couple weeks to see if she wanted to join, as she may be interested in set or music production. She would have to wait until the fall term to start taking music theory classes, as it progressed through the year beginning in the fall. She did, however, find an outgoing senior on the university message boards that was off-loading his old textbooks, the course syllabus, and copies of notes for the course if anyone wanted them, so she PM'd him an offer for those, and planned to start teaching herself to maybe test forward to the second year in the fall. Over the course of their conversation that afternoon, Maya's counsellor had pointed out that she could double major, she just needed to decide specifically what she wanted. Maya knew Music Theory would be one, but was still deciding which branch of the visual arts to make the other. She was pretty sure she would like Set Design and Production better than the animation course, but she was giving the tech a chance before she rules it out completely.

As she had predicted that morning, Maya is dragging her feet as she climbs the stairs to her apartment just after 10 that evening. Short sleep, followed by a long day, and a fast-paced dance class, on top of her emotional exhaustion, has wiped her out. She has reached the point of exhaustion that she isn't sure she can even respond to what she is sure will be a very pissy Josh once she walks into their apartment. She feels like whatever fight she may have had for the issue had drained out of her. She would accept whatever he threw at her and deal with it later. All she can focus on right now is a shower, then her bed. Whether he could be bothered to join her in it or not.

There is silence in their studio as she walks through the door. Josh is set up at the table, as usual, but instead of the usual furious typing, he is staring out the window, seemingly distracted. He turns towards her as she closes the door and tosses her bag and purse onto the bed, unpacking her dirty clothes into the hamper before stowing the bag in the closet so it is out of the way. It isn't until she is cleaning out the random crap from her purse that had collected over the last day that anyone says anything.

"Glad you could be bothered to come home." She had been right, he's in a shitty mood.

Maya drops the miscellany that she doesn't need from her purse into the trash can at the side of the bed, takes out her phone and drops it on her pillow, and hangs her purse on the hooks on the door before responding. When she does, it's in a blank, exhausted voice. "Glad you could be bothered to notice I came home." She doesn't turn to look at him as she strips out of her sweaty dance clothes, dropping them in the hamper as she goes, before grabbing a clean towel from the basket designated for them in the closet, and turning to make her way into the bathroom.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Josh demands.

Maya heaves a sigh, not stopping in her trek as she says, "Well, most days lately you don't even notice when I get home, much less acknowledge it. I was surprised you noticed at all that I wasn't here last night, and that still took you sleeping alone." She leaves the bathroom door open as she drops her towel on the closed toilet and starts the shower to heat up a little, knowing he isn't going to let something as trivial as her being in the shower stop the conversation. Or is this officially a fight? They are both pretty careful most of the time to talk it out before it reaches this point, so she's not really sure how to classify this.

"So, what, you decided to get back at me for being busy?" Josh has followed her, and is standing in the doorway to the bathroom as she steps into the shower.

Maya ducks her head back to get her hair wet as she answers, "No, Josh. I wasn't getting back at you for anything. I just didn't want to go to bed alone again, and I needed some time to decompress." Maya starts the somewhat lengthy process of washing her hair, which has grown back out. She idly thinks about getting it cut again - shorter is a lot easier to take care of.

Josh is indignant at her unenthusiastic responses. "Decompress? From WHAT?! I'm the one working my ass off 20 hours a day to try and graduate."

As the suds finish washing out of her hair, she squeezes some body wash onto her loofah and gets to washing the rest of her. "Yeah, and I couldn't POSSIBLY know what that feels like. It's not as if I have done it or anything." There's a beat of silence as he registers that, before she continues. "Despite what you may think, Joshua, it's not incredibly easy for me to be completely dismissed when I speak to you. So, yes, I needed to go be somewhere for awhile where I am treated like a person instead of a piece of furniture." Soap suds go down the drain as she works conditioner into her hair, then picks up her razor and starts running it over her legs.

She had exaggerated - slightly, but still exaggerated - and that's what he locks onto. "I have NOT been treating you like a piece of furniture!"

"No. You're right. I feel more like a maid than a chair. I get up and make breakfast, and do the dishes, then go to classes, then come home and make lunch, and do the dishes again, then I go to work. And after a day at work, I come home and cook dinner, and do the dishes a third time, and the laundry, around doing my own homework, and don't get so much as a passing thank you, much less any help. There's whole days at a time that you don't look at me, or talk to me, and our only interaction is that we happen to spend a couple hours sleeping next to each other in the same bed, and me handing you food." She pauses to wash the conditioner out of her hair.

"So what exactly would you like me to do, Maya? Not go to class? Not work on my thesis? Drop my internship?" Josh is still standing in the doorway of the bathroom as Maya turns of the water and wrings out her hair before reaching for her towel.

As she begins drying off, Maya replies, "No, Josh, I am not asking you to do any of that. But occasional eye contact would be good. Maybe taking a five minute break once in awhile to talk to me about something that isn't you or your thesis. If you can manage to come to bed with me, like, once a week or something, so that I am not falling asleep alone EVERY night, that'd be nice. But, since I'm a realist, I don't expect any of those things to happen, so I signed up for a couple extra classes this quarter to eat up some of my free time. If I still have too much downtime, I will probably ask mom to schedule me some shifts at Topanga's. You should probably set reminders on your phone or something so you don't starve." With that declaration, she pushes past him out of the bathroom, hair wrapped up in her towel, and moves to the dresser to retrieve and put on PJs.

Josh follows her out of the bathroom, placing himself in the middle of the room. "So your solution is to just ignore me until June? Not be around me as much as possible? That's SUPER grown up of you."

"What would YOU like ME to do, Josh? My options are to either sit around here moping because you are busy, or fill my time with something else. I realize my not being here as much will be inconvenient for you, but if I keep spending every day just watching you be busy, I am going to go insane. If BOTH of us are busy, then, come summer, we can look back and and say 'both of us being that busy sucked, we need to not do that again'. If you are busy and I am miserable, then I'm just going to start resenting you. This may come as a surprise, but I love you, and I don't WANT to resent you." By this point, Maya is waving her hair brush around to make her points in between tearing it through her hair without much care.

They both lapse into silence at this point. Maya had hardly raised her voice, while he had been just shy of shouting. Her exhaustion and frustration were showing in equal measure.

Maya continues to yank the brush roughly through her hair until it is more or less de-tangled, before grabbing a couple hair ties and reaching up to start french-braiding half of it. As Josh watches her go through this process, he feels himself coming down off the indignant crest he'd been riding, and really looking at his girlfriend. While he doesn't feel he had necessarily been doing anything wrong, he could see her point. Had she not been spending so much time in his dorm room while she was in crunch time before her high school graduation, he probably would've been feeling pretty ignored. But he is also still pissed that she just disappeared for an entire day, with only a single, delayed, text to let him know she was okay. He also isn't thrilled that she is now planning to *intentionally* keep herself overworked. If there is a tiny voice near the back of his head that pointing out that he is overworking himself, and she is doing it to keep herself sane without distracting him, he ignores it in favor of frustration. While Maya gets to work on braiding the second half of her hair, Josh takes a couple steps to the table to make sure his work is saved and closes his laptop, before moving to get undressed down to his boxers for bed, conceding, at the very least, that he has also missed holding her at night and he should make an effort there.

Maya double checks the door is locked before crawling into bed, pausing only to plug her phone into her charger and drops it on the window sill that serves as her side table. Josh crawls in after her, and they lay there somewhat awkwardly for a minute. The bed is small enough that it's near impossible for them to be not-touching, but they are still somewhat in the middle of one of the very few real fights they've ever had, making the cuddling that they had never even thought about before seem suddenly weird. It's her that breaks the tension a little, by nudging his arm until he moves it up over her head, then laying herself across his chest, while his arm comes down to rest on her shoulders. It's a familiar position, which relaxes them both a little, but they still lay there for quite awhile, silent, before they drift off into restless sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

By the end of April, Maya has herself well and truly busy.

Theatre Club had been a bust, if only because the meetings always clashed with her work schedule, but she is having a lot of fun with the Set Design course - she knows it's a bit childish, but she thinks it's kinda like art and building blocks combined; making visually beautiful backdrops for stories, that are also functional. Not that they are actually doing any of the making of the things - that being the realm of the advanced students - but they study how and why, and draw up examples of of how various pieces may look or work in the theoretical. Tech in Art, as she expected, isn't something she connects with very well, but she has at least found some interesting information about the different applications of technology in art and vice-versa that she probably wouldn't have known otherwise, so she doesn't consider it a complete bust.

Outside of that, she has begun taking an Intro to Bellydancing class at the studio in addition to the hiphop class she'd already been taking, and picked up extra hours cleaning the studio mirrors after hours.

Then there is her new role as counsellor. Not officially, but the Smarkliley situation is progressing, and she is the defacto uninvolved party for them to talk to about it. Smackle, never very in touch with emotions to begin with, is struggling to identify what she feels to even be able to begin to process. Farkle is a mixed bag of confused, hopeful, and frustrated. Riley is confused and in denial. Maya can barely make it a day without having to talk at least one of them through something, and there had been one memorable Sunday that she had started the day with Farkle buying her breakfast, left to go straight to coffee with Smackle, then turned right around and met Riley for lunch, all of them needing to talk.

Even NIkki had gotten in on the action. Now 15 and in high school, she had realized that she likes girls, possibly exclusively, and had a minor identity crisis and freak out over how her parents would react.

Maya is walking out of her math class when she gets the text from Josh telling her he'd gotten a position as Junior Architect at the firm he'd been interning at, contingent upon his graduation. She slightly bitterly thinks that it's amazing that he'd thought to tell her, then immediately chastises herself.

Things had gotten fractionally better over the past several weeks, insomuch as Josh had, in fact, taken her suggestion to set alarms on his phone to remind him to eat, and he is now feeding himself and doing the corresponding dishes, so she has only her own to deal with. He also took her point about sleeping alone, and now came to bed with her every second or third night. They still don't talk much, but, as she'd planned, they can now share the blame for being busy. 'Nine more weeks…' she thinks as she shoots off a congratulatory text.

Maya isn't the only person he texted, and she has to trade the other receptionist shifts on Saturday, as Topanga had ordered the both of them to come over for dinner to celebrate, no excuses.

The whole clan minus Morgan shows up, and, somehow, the seating gets arranged so that Maya is next to Josh and her parents, but Riley and Auggie are both at the far end of the table, and Maya is near silent through the meal as everyone focuses on Josh. Not that she is resentful of him getting the attention, but she doesn't know quite how to be with him around their family when they are basically in an extended disagreement that they can't do anything to resolve. She's sure if she talks, she'll just make things awkward with how obviously not-ok they are as a couple right now, so she is quiet, keeping her head down and only speaking when asked a direct question. As such, she misses the concerned looks passing between the other occupants of the table.

Josh doesn't, though, and now he feels bad for making his family worry about them on top of feeling bad that things between he and Maya are so strained to begin with even though the situation can't be helped.

After the couple has left for the evening, citing homework, the rest of the family quickly descends into a concerned murmur, until Riley speaks up. "Guys! They'll be fine. Obviously they aren't quite fine right now, but they will be. I know you probably think that's just me being my usual optimistic self, but I'm the only one here who actually knows what's going on with them, so please just trust me when I say that the situation is being handled, and they will be FINE."

Once the beginning of June finally rolls around, Josh is done with school a full 9 days earlier than Maya. Higher years take their exams earlier on account of them needing to be graded before graduation, and his thesis had been handed in at some point amongst the tests. With his internship complete, and the graduation ceremony still two weeks out, he found himself abruptly lost with nothing to do while his girlfriend is still blasting on full steam, just heading into the frenzy of her first year finals and officially declaring her majors. After spending the first full day sleeping, he thinks about the past several months and knows he has to make it up to Maya, and he has an idea about how, which he promptly gets to work on, around making sure she eats on top of studying and work.

Josh gives her the Day of Rest once her finals are done, then, on day two… well, he makes sure sure her wake-up call leaves her in a good mood, before pushing her, still partially asleep, into the shower. When she comes out of the bathroom, he has a stack of clothes she doesn't recognize waiting for her - a flowy, sky blue cotton sundress, a pair of white heels, and even a brand new purse, all picked out with a lot of help from Riley and bought in the last week. The man himself is sitting on the couch in what she is pretty sure are new clothes for him too, and she sees Riley's influence in that outfit as well - the jeans are tighter than he would normally pick for himself, and the plaid overshirt with cuffs rolled to his elbows is in shades of medium and dark green, which are colors she's pretty sure she has never seen him wear, but look great with his coloring.

He waits patiently as she blow-dries and puts some loose curls in her hair, which he realizes has grown back to nearly her waist, and puts on some makeup to go with the outfit Riley had picked out. Once her things are transferred to the new bag and she has declared herself ready, he takes her and and leads her out of their building before steering them toward a restaurant on the other side of the park that does and awesome brunch.

The couple is quiet through the meal, neither mad nor upset, but somewhat disconnected and hesitant after three months of living together but hardly speaking and being incredibly stressed.

Once the corned beef hash and eggs benedict are gone, and a couple cups of coffee each have been consumed, Josh pays the tab and leads her off in yet another direction.

"Not that I'm complaining about new clothes and accessories, and nice breakfast, but what are we doing?" Maya asks.

Josh's only reply is a slightly smug smirk and a mysterious "You'll see."

Sure enough, soon, they are walking into a building off E 12th near Union Square Park after Josh punches the code into the panel by the door, and he's leading her to an elevator and hitting the button to take them to the 8th floor out of 12. Off the elevator, they take two rights before stopping in front of a door with a simple number 807 under the peephole, and Josh takes out a set of keys that she doesn't recognize.

"Josh…?" Maya asks, more confused than ever, and he gives her a toothy grin as he opens the door and ushers her into an empty apartment. She enters and slowly looks around.

The place isn't big, but it seems that way compared the their current studio. Most of the space is a common area, open plan living room and kitchen in one, with the outside wall being lined with windows overlooking an open courtyard between this building and the one opposite facing 11th. Maya moves toward the doors she sees off to the side opposite the kitchen, and peeks in one to find a full bath, complete with a small vanity encasing the sink and a full, if not huge, bathtub. The other door leads into a bedroom - again, not much, but room for a bed and dresser, and there's a closet taking up the wall that is shared with the bathroom.

"I know you'll be making more at the firm, but -" Maya begins, not understanding how he thinks they can afford an honest-to-God ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT while she's still got at least three years of school left and he's barely out of it.

Cutting her off, Josh's answer is simple. "Topanga." Seeing Maya's face contort, he knows she's taking it wrong - assuming Topanga had given him money or something. Hurriedly, he explains further. "One of the senior partners at the law firm bought this place years ago for his daughter when she was in college, and she just stayed even after she graduated. Apparently she moved to LA a couple weeks ago, though, and the guy was thinking of selling. I had asked Topanga for help finding us a new place, so when she heard the guy talking about it, she suggested he rent it out instead. Mentioned us, got us a good deal." Now, Maya is staring at him, seemingly struggling to comprehend what's going on. "I know it's more of a commute for you, but only by a few blocks, and it's more space, and there's good light for your painting-" Josh is abruptly cut off as Maya rushes the few steps between them and kisses him.

He responds eagerly, now realizing exactly how little they'd touched at all recently as his arms immediately go around his tiny girlfriend, one wrapping around her waist to pull her closer, the other hand going up to gently tangle in the hair at the base of her skull. After a long minute, Maya pulled away, beaming smile on her face.

"When do we move in?"

"Well, there's a little more. I know we had planned on keeping what I got for the internship as a rainy-day fund, but with that, my signing bonus when I accepted the job offer, and what I'm anticipating getting in graduation money from family, plus the fact that the move-in costs were just first month and deposit…."

Rolling her eyes, Maya demanded "Just TELL ME."

"I decided to splurge a little- our new bed and mattress will be here sometime in the next hour."

Caught between irritated and giddy, all the little blonde can do is shake her head and smile as she gives her boyfriend another quick kiss before pulling away and wandering over to the windows, deciding it's probably time to re-think some furniture. Obviously, Josh has the bedroom furniture taken care of, and was likely already coordinating with her parents for their current bed and dresser to go back into her old room. The rest of it, however, will need some thought. The loveseat and chair would be fine, and she's sure she can find another large chair or small sofa that will go with them well enough. The little square table and chairs, however, would not be big enough. She might keep that and use it as a desk-slash-art-table under the windows, but an actual dining table would be in order as well. And maybe trading up the small rolling kitchen island that Amy and Allen had bought them for a larger one for some extra counter space….

Maya is pulled out of her thoughts by Josh's phone ringing, and he's soon making the motions of holding down on a number on the keypad to buzz someone into a building. The bed must be here.

"That was fast. Kinda expected them to be late." Josh says as he keeps holding the button and moves to re-open the door to the apartment. A couple minutes later, two guys are wheeling several big boxes in on trolleys, and Josh points them to the bedroom, following them in and pointing out where he wants the headboard. It's only moments before they hear the sound of boxes being sliced open, and then a few more minutes before the sound of an electric drill is floating out of the bedroom. Josh and Maya settle on the floor, against the wall under the windows Maya had been standing in front of, listening to the delivery men make short work of assembling the furniture.

It's only two days before they are entirely moved and handing in the keys to the old apartment, and Maya is slightly dumbstruck at how fast things can change. In the space of less than a week, they'd transitioned from too busy and stressed out to even really function as a couple to being in a new, bigger apartment, with some actually brand new furniture, and almost back to their normal. Not quite, but almost.

Maya flops down on their new, bigger bed, sighing happily at how comfortable the brand new queen size memory foam mattress is. The bed frame is oak, according to the paperwork that the delivery guys had left, stained a pretty dark cherry color, with brushed nickel hardware. It's a captain's bed, with four drawers under the mattress on each side, and the headboard, which rests against the wall that the bedroom and living room share, also has storage. Four drawers in the center, each about 8 inches high and 18 wide, then each of their sides of the bed have three shelves, plus what can be stored on the top of it. Any annoyance she had felt at not having a say in picking out their bedroom furniture was erased when she'd realized that his choice had made it so that they didn't need a dresser or night stands. Once the hanging closet baskets had been moved, they had found themselves with more than enough bedroom storage.

In celebration, she had decided to splurge a little herself, ordering them two sets of ridiculously high threadcount Egyptian cotton sheets and a set of four brand new pillows off of Amazon, even paying for same-day delivery so they would have them for their first night in the new place that evening.

Josh finished unpacking his clothes and flopped down beside her, and they took a moment to just lay there and stare at each other, feeling a fraction more like them again.

The day before Thanksgiving this year finds Maya dealing with a situation she never thought she would come across. At least not for this person.

The Smarkliley situation had ended up not going much of anywhere. Over the course of the summer, Farkle had realized that, if he had freedom to be with others, so would Isadora, and had immediately shut down the idea, at least for now. This had happened only a couple weeks before everyone took off for college, and Maya was glad. Riley, normally a very open-minded person who just wanted everyone to be happy and didn't care much about what that entails unless it's hurting other people, was being surprisingly close-minded on the entire issue of polyamory. Maya had eventually, with a trip down to the shelter, managed to find a way to explain the concept itself in a way that Riley would accept, but Riles had flat out refused to talk about the subject after that point.

So, in the fall, Farkle had gone to Princeton, Isadora to MIT, and Riley took off up to Connecticut for Harvard Pre-Law. And Maya's life had gotten easier.

Until now, anyway.

Checking the timer on her phone, she sees only a few seconds left and dismisses it. "It's time to look." she says to Isa, who is sat on the floor of Maya's bathroom, leaning against the back of the door, legs pulled up to her chest.

"I'm scared." Isa says, looking a little lost.

Maya tries to keep her sigh quiet. "I probably would be too. But you can't make a plan to deal with this until you know."

Isa nods and slowly pulls herself to a standing position, and Maya stays seated on the edge of the tub, watching. Isa examines each plastic stick, comparing the result to what the box under each says. "Two are positive, one is inconclusive."

Giving the girl a moment to process this news, Maya eventually asks, "Do you have a regular OB/GYN?"

Isadora looks a little dazed as she shakes her head. "No, I just went to whoever was available when I needed an appointment." Maya nods, though she knows Smackle doesn't see, and pulls out her own phone, scrolling through the contacts until she finds the number of the Gynecologists office that Topanga had set both her and Riley up at years ago and hitting send.

She's somewhat surprised that the office is open, but, a few minutes later, Isa has an appointment for Saturday afternoon, and has selected one of the two positive results to keep, the other two sticks shoved back into their boxes and dropped into the small trash can in the bathroom. Exiting the room, Maya makes eye contact with Josh, who is sat at their dinner table on his laptop, working from home this afternoon. A tight smile later, she is moving to get a ziplock baggie for Isa to put the test in, even as she texts Farkle that Isa really needs to talk to him and asking him to send a car to her and Josh's place for Isa.

Farkle is immediately concerned, but follows Maya's instructions. Once a still-dazed Isadora is loaded into the towncar that arrives 20 minutes later, Maya makes her way back upstairs and all but collapses down into the chair next to Josh, leaning into his shoulder.

"So…." he starts.

"She's pregnant."

Seeing that it's after 5 and he isn't likely to get much more work done that day, Josh saves what he's doing and shuts down his laptop. They have made a controversial - in their family - decision to not attend the family Thanksgiving gathering that year. After the chaos it's been the last few years and the fact that Riley has invited her new boyfriend for family review barely a month into dating him, they had decided they wanted a quiet, long weekend just for them.

Maya misses her best friend, but Riles had been rather needy and a little off the rails since the whole Farkle is in love with her too, not just loves her, thing, and Maya is tired of trying to reign the girl in. Riley is almost 18, off at college - though she halfway lives with her grandparents, saying being in the dorm full time makes her homesick - and Maya has decided it's time her best friends start learning to take care of themselves. Isa and Farkle get it more, so she's happy to be their go-to on days like today when Isa shows up freaking out because her period is missing for the second month in a row. She got the panic under control, helped Isa get to the next steps and, now, they are handling the repercussions themselves.

Riley, on the other hand, has always been just slightly out of touch with the real world, and had always required a certain amount of hand-holding. See example - The RIley Committee, and everything that had happened through The Lucas Years.

Maya makes her way over to the living room area, their black loveseat and cushy chair now joined by a second black loveseat from Ikea that is like the foam stools at the family house in Philly that fold out to single beds, except it's a sofa and folds out easily into a surprisingly comfy full-size bed. On the coffee table is Maya's laptop, already set up with Netflix paused on it from when Isa had shown up in the middle of her bingeing Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Josh moves to the kitchen to start dinner, having offered to cook despite it being Maya's turn. Now that he has a nine-to-five with no evening or weekend obligations other than occasionally hanging out with Auggie to help his brother, he tends to do a lot of the cooking, partially because Maya still works evenings at the dance studio and has homework, but they try and trade off cooking on the nights she doesn't work. He looks through the fridge around food earmarked to go to the women's shelter with them tomorrow when they go to help with the holiday meal there and decides chicken fajitas will have to do, pulling out the four halves of peppers that should really be used or thrown out very soon, and half an onion, as well as the packet of two chicken breasts. Putting a skillet on a hot burner, he drops in a dollop of veggie oil before setting up at the cutting board right next to the stove, dropping in the thin slices of veg as he cuts them, followed by bite-size chunks of chicken. Generous sprinkles of salt, pepper, and chili powder later, he leaves that to start caramelizing and moves to the cabinet where they keep dry goods, pulling out the flour tortillas and a can of refried beans that are always stocked, because they both like Mexican food. Another minute, and the beans are dumped in a saucepan with a bit of water and left to heat, and he is stirring the rest.

By the time Maya gets to the end of the episode she'd been halfway through, Josh is setting a plate on her lap and leaving his on the coffee table before he moves back to the kitchen to get them drinks.

"Thanks, babe, this smells great," Maya says, though she sounds distracted. They make short work of eating, and Maya just stacks their dishes to deal with in a little bit before cuddling into Josh's side to ostensibly keep watching the show.

Josh can't help but notice she's staring at the laptop more than watching. "What's up, gorgeous?" he asks, running a hand up down her arm.

Maya chews on her lip for a moment before deciding that they need to talk about it eventually anyway. "Do you want kids? Not now, obviously, but down the road?"

A logical area of thought given the afternoon's events. "I'd like kids, yeah." Josh answers, realizing with some surprise that it was something that had never come up between them before. Maya doesn't look shocked, so he assumed she had kinda expected that answer. "Do you?" he asks her in return, suddenly and oddly nervous of what her answer will be.

Maya's nod is a little slow. "Yeah, but…." Josh reminds himself to breathe as she collects her thoughts. "I don't know. I have always kinda thought I'd like to adopt. While I have no doubt our theoretical biological children would be off-the-charts adorable, there's just so many kids already out there that need parents…" She seems trepidatious telling him this, and he understands why. It's a topic that people can be slightly irrational about.

Hugging her closer to his side, he tries to reassure her. "Well, you know my family doesn't put a ton of stock in biology being what makes us a family." He's rewarded with a soft, but bright, smile. "We have plenty of time to figure it out."

When Christmas break rolled around a month later, Maya wished that relaxation was part of the plan. Who would've thought that she'd consider double-majoring and working just shy of full-time more relaxing than the holiday break?

In fairness, though, there was even more going on than usual. Riley's slightly belated 18th birthday bash was slated for the 20th, followed almost immediately by Farkle and Isadora's wedding on the 22nd. Gammy had decided to spend Christmas in the city this year, and Christmas Eve would be taken up with the Hunter-Clutterbucket celebrations, which included midnight mass. Then it would be up early for the Matthews Christmas Day Extravaganza, then Boxing Day would be spent in a mix of volunteering at the shelter and being with the Harts. Nikki would be joining them in the volunteer work for the day, getting to the point of high school that things like that need to start going on her resume, then back to the Hart residence for dinner. From there, Amy and Alan had decided they want to do a small family vacation, and the whole clan would be driving up to New Hampshire to a ski lodge - not Mount Sun, thank every deity - from the 27th to the 30th, then it would be back to the city for the outrageously extravagant Minkus New Years Eve Ball.

Yes, a freaking BALL, complete with gowns, tuxedos, and a small orchestra playing classical music. As soon as it had been announced, Maya had signed her and Josh up for a couples class to learn some very basic ballroom. Josh hadn't complained; his mother had taught him to slow-dance when he'd hit high school age, and, while it wasn't on his list of favorite things to do, he'd never minded it either.

Maya had also informed Farkle that, if her presence is demanded, she expects him to pay for the gown and shoes, as well as her hair and nail appointments. Being Farkle, he hadn't even blinked, simply telling his mother that she would need to be added to the girls' beauty appointments, and should be fitted for a gown for New Years at the same time as the dress she would be wearing as his Best Woman for the wedding. Jennifer Bassett-Minkus had been equally unaffected, having been including Maya in those types of things for their events for years by this point anyway. The gowns would be loans from designers, but Maya would keep the shoes, and the collective Minkii had insisted that the jewellery she was outfitted with for both events were her Christmas and thank-you-for-helping-Farkle-through-a-surprise-pregnancy-and-shotgun-wedding gift.

"You ready?" Josh's voice breaks through her thoughts. He'd just checked their coats at the fancy restaurant where a private room had been reserved for the start of the holiday crazy - Riley's birthday.

A sigh from Maya. "Not really." she answers, even as she loops an arm through his and they head back in the direction the hostess had indicated.

While Riley had not gone full-on back to the rebellious teenager she'd been through half of high school, she was determined to make the most of her college experience, which had included going out on dates with almost any boy who asked her and parties at least three nights a week. She also hadn't completely cut out Maya again, but their conversations were getting shorter and shorter as Maya has found herself less and less interested in just listening to Riley chatter about nothing but parties, guys, and debating pledging a sorority com spring term. Much as it makes Maya feel old, she would be a lot more interested in hearing about how Riley is finding her classes, and Riley seems to be treating the educational portion of her college experience as a necessary annoyance. Riley also didn't care to hear much about Maya's days, considering them rather boring.

So, after entering the private room and making the rounds to say hello, Maya and Josh found themselves seats at the table a bit away from Riley, next to Josh's parents on one side and Maya's across from them, next to Cory and Topanga. Maya was seated close enough to still be considered in the 'friends' group that surrounded Riley, but she didn't interact with them much, preferring to talking to the adults, mainly because she actually knew them.

The friends are a group of 7 people from Riley's dorm, 5 girls and 2 guys, who she hangs out with regularly. Their common ground seems to be that they are all New Yorkers going to Harvard, and Maya is disappointed that very few of the conversations at that end of the table seem to have much, if any, substance; most of them center around the people on campus and various parties they have been at together. You'd think at least a couple of them would be academics, going to an Ivy League school.

The Minkii, including Isadora, aren't here, and Maya wonders whether they declined or if they weren't invited to begin with, but doesn't ask.

"That dress is so pretty, Maya! The color looks gorgeous with your hair," Amy says, distracting Maya from her disappointed contemplation of Riley's new friends.

Maya smiles at her boyfriend's mother, "Thank you. I found it in this little vintage shop in the village."

"Wow, you're braver than me," a snotty voice from Maya's other side breaks into the conversation. The girl speaking is almost painfully skinny and dressed head to toe in designer brands. Maya and Amy turn to her, and she continues, "Old styles, AND it's been worn by other people? I would never."

This declaration sparks a heated conversation among a couple of the girl in the group talking about true vintage versus vintage-inspired new styles. If Maya had any regard for any of these people, she might have actually found that conversation interesting, but they were all obviously from wealth and the stances were somewhat subtlety disparaging toward people who wear second-hand clothing, whether that is out of preference or necessity.

Maya makes eye contact with Amy, who is silently but obviously judging the stuck up girls, and changes their conversational topic to ask how Mr. Feeny is doing these days.

"Oh, he's starting to slow down a little, but he's as good as ever." Amy tells her with a smile.

"Well, the man's in his 90's, it's about time he has started slowing down a little," Alan interjects.

"He still dominating the Autumn Garden Competition?" Shawn asks.

Amy smiles, "Mostly. Jamie Anderson's roses took first this year, but George's begonias are as gorgeous as ever."

"Well, I'm sure he'll sweep the Spring judging," Topanga says. "I spoke to him at Thanksgiving, he said he's changing up some of his tulips this year, and adding daffodils as well."

"Oh yeah," Alan agrees, "He was arranging and rearranging those bulbs right up to the first freeze this year."

The night ended up being surprisingly pleasant as Maya basically ignored the Harvard contingent, basically treating it as a (very nice) family dinner.

Two days later, Maya is screening Riley's calls and texts as she sits in the hair stylists' chair with Isa and her mother and sister on one side, with Jennifer as well as Farkle's 14 year old little sister, Angie, on the other. Maya has taken on some of the duties from Jennifer of making last minute decisions and dealing with minor crises as the venue is set up and various issues with decorating and catering pop up. She's flattered that Jennifer trusts both her and her decision-making skills enough to ask for her help.

Meanwhile, Riley has found out that Maya is in the wedding while she isn't, and is blowing up Maya's phone.

Maya's eyes roll as she swipes away the notification for yet another text from Riley as she taps out a quick and rough recipe for the caterers, who have realized that they left several trays of food out overnight and it now isn't usable. Maya's quick replacement won't be gourmet, but it it'll go well enough as a side with the chicken option, and they had already figured out a solution for the side that was to go with the fish.

"Are the caterers not listening to you?" Jennifer's voice asks, having seen Maya's eye roll in the mirror.

"Oh, no, they're fine. I just sent them the new side for the chicken, they are running to the store for supplies as we speak." Maya annoyedly swipes at another notification of a text from Riley. "Riley's just being a brat."

"Well, THERE'S a surprise." Isadora's voice is uncharacteristically sarcastic.

"Isadora!" Her mother chastises.

"No, Mrs. Smackle, Isa's right." Maya says. "Riley's still got a lot of growing up to do, and we're all kinda over her attitude lately."

Maya and Isa's eyes meet via the mirror, and they share a slightly sad smile. Nobody else knows about the potential polyamory situation, so they make sure to never get too specific with what had happened.

"It's a pity. She was such a sweet girl." Jennifer sighs, before getting a mischievous look. "So, Maya, when do I get to start planning YOUR wedding? You and Josh have been together for how long now?"

Laughing, Maya replies, "Two years and a couple months, officially, and you'll have to fight both Amy and Topanga for it if he ever proposes."

"Oh, as if he isn't going to propose," Isa's voice is now playfully indignant, and Maya loves seeing her normally reserved friend so excited that she can be playful without getting self-conscious.

"The guy IS crazy about you," Angie pipes up, not looking up from playing Angry Birds on her phone. "Even way back when he was hiding it when he first moved to the city and you had that massive crush on him." Angie had never been a fixture, exactly, in their friend group, but she had been around enough that they are all friendly with the younger Minkus girl.

Maya smiles, remembering those times, before looking back down as her phone buzzed with a photo from the caterers of what's in the shopping cart, and she pulls the phone to her face and zooms in to see what's there. Replying for them to ditch the kale and get spinach instead, she continues, "We haven't really talked about it much. It's kind of agreed that we both want to get married, but we haven't discussed when or anything. Plus, I'm only in my second year of college, and he's JUST starting out in his career, and he has been thinking about applying to Columbia in another year or two to work on his Masters… it's just not really a priority right now."

"You guys have plenty of time, honey," Mrs. Smackle says reassuringly. Then, she looks to Isa and tacks on, "So long as you don't end up pregnant, anyway."

Isa sighs, as it isn't the first small dig of the day. Neither she nor Farkle are terribly upset, but it is earlier than they had discussed getting married and starting a family. Isa would be finishing out the school year at MIT, as she isn't due until mid-June, and is planning on transferring to either a New York or New Jersey based school the following year. Depending on where she ends up will decide if Farkle is staying at Princeton or transferring closer to her. Their families, both very well off, had offered both their personal services and to hire a nanny as needed so that they can both continue with their schooling around having a child.

Eventually, all the ladies' hair, makeup, and nails are done, and they load into a stretch SUV limo and head to the church to get dressed, then it's a whirlwind of running between rooms and making sure flowers are all in place, and checking 20 times that Farkle has the rings, and last minute changes to the seating chart for the reception meal, and the next time Maya slows down enough to breathe is during the second dance, which she has with Josh. Since the bridal party isn't evenly split between males and females, they don't do the traditional bridal-party second dance, so she's with Josh for it, and she is thankful.

He keeps them in a somewhat-formal position as they slowly move around the dancefloor, which still allows Maya to lean on him a bit, tired from the hectic day.

"Cory is harassing me about us getting married," he tells her idly.

Maya laughs a little. "Yeah, Jennifer was asking me about it at the salon." Pulling her head back slightly to meet his eyes, she playfully asks, "So, you ready to become Joshua Hunter-Matthews yet?"

"Why's your name gotta go first?" he asks just as teasingly.

"Because Matthews-Hunter sounds like a medieval vampire hunter with a grudge, not a surname." she tells him, making him laugh.

"You're not wrong," Josh agrees. There's a beat where they just keep swaying to the music. "I don't know. I am not even really opposed to the idea of getting married soon, but I think I'd like for us to be more established. Just with, like, life. Get a few years and a little seniority under me at the firm, get you at least closer to graduation, be able to afford a bigger place…"

"Agreed." Maya states as he trails off, and smiles as he leans in to kiss her, ignoring both the teasing wolf-whistle from Jennifer and the indignant squeak from Cory.

The next day is spent finishing and wrapping Christmas gifts. More financially stable, but still without much in the way of spending money, Maya and Josh pick out things mostly at thrift shops for people, and it's a joint effort customizing some of them in some way. Art isn't Josh's thing, but he did have to take some drawing classes related to his drafting courses, and he has really good handwriting, so he feels like he contributed more than last year.

Josh joins Maya at Shawn and Katy's for a late Christmas Eve lunch with Gammy, who is excited to get to know her only grandchild's boyfriend better. She is delighted with the medium-sized, wooden-slat bucket that Maya had had him help paint with kitchy little pop-art garden animals. Apparently she likes unique and colorful planters for her garden. Katy is given her gift of a crisp, brand-new apron that had been white when it was bought, but had since been covered in fabric paint to make a riotous print that looks like bright stained-glass flowers and leaves, with a couple hummingbirds feeding.

"Oh, that's beautiful!" his girlfriends mother had exclaimed, giving each of them a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Shawn, being a somewhat-closeted nerd, gets a large, framed drawing of Rivendell, which he is somewhat surprised to learn was done mostly by Josh.

"I'm an architect. Drawing buildings is literally what I do." is Josh's reply to that.

In return, after Gammy dragging everyone to mass, they take home a number of empty, simple frames to put photos in and hang up, courtesy of Gammy, and a generous gift card to Bed, Bath, and Beyond from Shawn and Katy, who know that some of their cookware is overdue to be replaced, it having been at least second- and sometimes fourth-hand when they got it a year and a half ago.

Josh and Maya are up early after a late night to head to the Matthews', opting for a cab rather than trying to carry all of the family's gifts on the subway.

Breakfast and gift exchanges are the usual organized chaos, then everyone quickly splits into smaller groups to waste time until the late lunch/early dinner is served. By early evening, they are exhausted as they load their relatively small (in size, not value) haul into another cab, with Josh's phone ringing to indicate someone is trying to get them to buzz them into their building. Answering it, he finds it's Nikki, who has beaten them there. He tells her they'll be there soon before hitting the button to let her inside so she can at least be in the warm lobby rather than the stoop while she waits.

She's staying with them to head to the shelter first thing in the morning, so they spend the evening listening to music, talking, and playing poker for candy before they pull out the sofa for her to sleep on.

Boxing Day dinner with the Harts is less awkward than last year, if only because the family has been working through a lot of their issues related to Maya. For her part, Maya puts on a pretty decent front, which fools Kermit and Rachel, but Nikki and Cass are more wise to it nowadays. The vase from last year had made it out into the open in their new apartment, if only because Nikki and Cass are over more now that they have a little space, and stay the night occasionally now, and Maya had been forced to make it look like she had it out all along.

Nikki helped her with the newest painting that she had done for Kermit and Rachel, at least in that Maya had asked her what they might like a painting of, and NIkki had promptly sent her a snap of a picture of her holding a newborn Cassie, thankfully in focus enough for Maya to work off of.

The gift she receives this year is more practical, and she knows she'll be swallowing her pride and actually using it much sooner - it's a wooden rack with adjustable-height shelves made specifically for storing canvases flat. She knows the girls - probably mostly Nikki - had picked it out, because there are often canvases leaning against walls, chair legs, table legs, and anywhere else in their apartment that has a lean-againstable surface, drying. Maya had been eyeing one very similar to it at the art supply store for ages, but hadn't been able to justify the price tag to herself.

Josh is surprised to receive a gift of his own, a new pair of SkullCandy bluetooth headphones. In this, he suspects Cassie's influence. She'd been over on the day a few weeks ago that his several-years-old pair had died their final death, and lamented with him over the fact that he was stuck with cheap earbuds until further notice.

At one point as they are leaving, Josh is hugging his goodbye to Cassie and thanking her for the new headphones, and Kermit makes the mistake of trying to hug Maya, who flinches away from him before leaning down to snatch up her new drying rack and almost sprinting out the door. Josh flashes an apologetic smile as he follows her, pulling the door closed behind him. As it's closing, he hears, Nikki speak up angrily, "WHAT THE HELL, DAD? She's trying SO HARD, why would you push her like that?!"

Maya's already down the hall by the elevator, impatiently pushing the button over and over. He doesn't touch her on the way home except to gently lean his shoulder into hers as they stand on the train. She barely sets her things down before she's excusing herself to take a shower, and he locks up and puts their things away before following her. As he expected, she's using the shower to cry, and he doesn't hesitate to strip down and get in there with her, adjusting the water temperature down slightly from the scorching one she has it at, then pulling her into his chest and holding her as she sobs.

Awhile later, they are in bed with Maya curled up and Josh spooned tightly around her.

"I don't even want to give him the time of day to bother hating him, but I just can't help it." Josh doesn't speak, only nuzzles his face into her hair slightly so she knows he's listening. "It's just like… why now? Why just since he found out that I have a real dad who actually cares about me? His old excuse was the distance and not wanting to confuse the girls, but they were in the city for months before we ran into Nikki that day, and he had told them about me by then. Even once I started getting to know them, he was fine just facilitating that. Is it because I'm past 18? Because he's not responsible for me anymore or something? It's not like he ever was anyway. He's no longer paying child support, so he feels suddenly obligated to be in my life in some other way? I just don't understand." She's still crying as she speaks, but it's just a gentle dripping at this point. There's quiet as she runs out of words, and Josh thinks this is only scraping the surface of her issues with her father, but stays silent and just holds her.

The next morning, they make a quick breakfast and finish packing before hoofing their small suitcases a few blocks to the garage where Josh keeps his Jeep. Loading the cases into the back, he joins Maya in the cab and starts the car to let it warm up for a few minutes before taking off to pick up whoever would be riding with them. "You wanna drive?" he asks brightly.

This manages to get a small smile and a head shake. He had managed to teach her the basics this past summer, but it's a 100% emergency skill still at this point, with her just barely knowing how to start the car and put it in first gear, and apply the breaks without stalling out.

Several minutes later, they are pulling up to the curb in front of Cory and Topanga's and he's glad to find that it's Shawn and Katy that will be riding with them. Gammy had flown home yesterday, Morgan and James were meeting the rest of the family there, and Eric couldn't join them on the trip for some reason, which left Cory and company riding in Amy and Alan's big SUV.

"Take the front mom, I'll hop in back with the old man." Maya jokes as she hops out of the Jeep while Shawn loads a single suitcase that they are obviously sharing into the cargo area.

Maya flips the seat forward and immediately crawls into the back, and Katy looks across the cab at Josh with a raised eyebrow. They are all well aware that Maya, unaccustomed to being in cars for any length of time, hates being stuck in the back, and has a slight case of situational claustrophobia. Josh mouths a 'later' at her and Shawn, who had appeared at her side in that moment, also looking confused. They don't question it, climbing in as they tell Josh and Maya that the others will be meeting them there, as Cory and Topanga are currently upstairs fighting with Riley and aren't sure how soon they can end the yelling match long enough to get everyone loaded up and on the road.

That in mind, Josh reaches to his phone, which is on the mount attached to the dash, and punches the name of the resort that Amy and Alan had made them reservations at into his GPS app, and they're off.

Three hours into the six hour drive, Josh pulls off the interstate and into a gas station to give everyone a chance to stretch their legs while he tops up the gas tank. Maya and Katy go inside to use the toilet and grab them some snacks and drinks, while Shawn stays at the pump with Josh, pushing his own debit card into the reader before Josh can get his out of his wallet.

"So, what's going on with Maya?" Shawn asks worriedly.

With a sigh, Josh relates the story of the evening before. "We had our usual Boxing Day dinner with the Harts, and, as we were leaving, Kermit decided to try and hug Maya." Shawn's eyebrows hit his hairline. "Yeah, pretty much. Nikki was tearing him a new one before I got the door shut, and Maya freaked. Practically ran home."

Shawn let out a sigh of his own and shook his head with a muttered 'Christ'. A minute later, he was pulling the receipt from the machine at the same time that the girls came walking out of the store. Two minutes after that, they were pulling out to hit the road again, and Josh was happy to see Shawn being a little extra affectionate with Maya for the rest of the drive. She needed it.


End file.
